Morocco exports 15 bln Dirhams of agricultural Products in Q1 2017

Morocco’s exports of agricultural products in the first quarter of 2017 stood at 15.25 billion dirhams, that is a 4.2% rise compared to the same period last year, Moroccan local media said quoting official statistics.

With this increase, the total revenues from agricultural exports have been bolstered by 616 million dirhams compared to the first quarter in 2016.

The food industry accounted for 7.46 billion dirhams of Morocco’s exports of agricultural products compared to 6.98 the same period last year.

For their parts, exports of fisheries and aquaculture products underwent a 6.1% drop totalling 1.19 million dirhams compared to 1.27 billion dirhams in Q1 2016.
Exports of processed products, including foodstuff, drinks and tobacco yielded 13.9 billion dirhams in revenues, while shellfish products dropped in volume but gained in value to stand at 3 billion dirhams.

Tomatoes exports reached 1.93 billion dirhams during the same period, that is 226,383 tons. Similarly, citrus exports were slightly lower than tomatoes in value with 222,120 tons.

Vegetables exports rose to 1.72 billion dirhams for a total volume of 120,985 tons sold in international markets by the end of March 2017.

Morocco’s agricultural sector was bolstered by abundant rainfall in 2017. The outlook for the 2017 crop year bodes well with a total cereal output reaching 102 million quintals, i.e. a 203% rise compared to last year (33.5 million quintals).

The increase of agricultural exports will help Morocco close the gap in its international reserves, which dropped 2.2% on May 19 compared to the same period last year to stand at 237.1 billion dirhams.