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By Loubna Flah
Morocco World News
Casablanca, July 3, 2012
In a communiqué published on Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries assured that local markets will be sufficiently supplied with the food that is mostly consumed during the Holy month Ramadan. The ministry has predicted that the food prices will stagnate or even decrease.
Indeed the demands over food hikes sharply during the Holy moth Ramadan which makes consumers constantly apprehensive of any shortage in the supply of products like tomatoes, dates, dairy products , meat, eggs in addition to vegetables and more particularly onions and potatoes.
It is noteworthy that the demand on tomatoes is expected to reach 80 000 tonne. In order to satisfy the growing demand on tomatoes, the government will supply local markets market with 220, 000 tonne during July and August.
Regarding the stock of date injected in the market during the Holy month Ramadan, the government will make use of reserves form the last season harvest in addition to a great amount of dates that will be imported. The quantity of dried dates afforded is estimated to 37 000 tonne whereas the demand may reach 30 000 tonne.
The most sought-after commodity in Ramadan remains milk. The Ministry expects the demand to reach 160 million liters. In this regard, the government undertook specific measures to guarantee a sufficient supply during July and August by exempting importations of milk from customs duty between July 15 and August 15. For butter consumption, the government has anticipated the demand on butter to reach 7500 tonne. Nevertheless the supply in butter secured by the government is estimated to 32 000 tonne.
The ministry asserts also that the supply in meat and poultry will be secured with quantities that exceed the demand. Thus the local markets will know a state of self-sufficiency especially in meat, poultry.
Nevertheless, the strike led by the gas distributers betrays the confidence displayed by the government regarding the self-sufficiency announced for Ramadan. In an unexpected move, the gas distributers decided to stop the distribution of gas bottles used essentially for cooking among other uses since the negotiation with the government reached a dead-end.
They also request the government to reconsider its decision to raise the prices of fuel especially that the world oil prices have decreased considerably. The shortage in gas is more likely to cast a shade of doubt on the government’s confident tone.
