Imports reached in the first half of 2022, some 365.56 billion dirhams once morest 253.57 billion dirhams at the end of June 2021, an increase of 44.2% while exports increased by 41.2% standing at 215.07 billion dirhams at the end of June 2022 once morest 152.35 billion dirhams a year earlier, specifies the Office which has just published its monthly indicators of foreign trade for the month of June.
The coverage rate, meanwhile, lost 1.3 points (58.8% once morest 60.1%), adds the same source.
The increase in imports of goods concerns almost all product groups, observes the Office, noting that imports of semi-finished products recorded an increase of 55.2%, following the strong growth in purchases of ammonia. (10.47 billion dirhams at the end of June 2022 once morest only 2.85 billion dirhams at the end of June 2021). Thus, the energy bill more than doubled, amounting to 71.48 billion dirhams at the end of June 2022. This development follows the increase in supplies of the main energy products, mainly those of gas oils and fuel oils (+ 19.130 MMDH) due to the rise in prices which have more than doubled (9.614DH/T once morest 4.719DH/T). At the same time, the quantities imported increased by 10.3%.
Imports of food products rose by 43.4%, which is mainly due to the increase in wheat purchases by 55.1% due to the price effect, which increased by 52 .5%. At the same time, the quantities imported posted a slight increase of 1.7%. Barley imports also saw a significant increase of +2.829 billion dirhams (3.17 billion dirhams at the end of June 2022 once morest 341 million dirhams (MDH) a year earlier). For their part, imports of raw products increased by 82.7% mainly due to the increase in purchases of raw and unrefined sulphur, which more than doubled (+6.9 billion dirhams).