Morocco Textile And Leather Goods Exports Declined In April

According to the latest statistics from Morocco's safe, Morocco's total foreign trade (including trade in services) amounted to 189 billion in the 1~4 month of 2008 (about $25 billion 900 million), an increase of about 21 percentage points over the same period last year. Among them, imports of 108 billion Di lamb (about 14 billion 800 million US dollars), an increase of 26.9% over the same period, exports 81 billion Di lamb (about 11 billion 100 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 13.7% over the same period last year. The trade deficit was about 27 billion DL (about 3 billion 700 million US dollars), an increase of 94.1% over the same period last year, and the export coverage rate dropped to 75% from 83.6% in the same period in 2007. The foreign trade situation is not optimistic. In the trade of goods, the amount of imports in 1~4 months was 93 billion 700 million Di lamb (about 12 billion 800 million US dollars), an increase of 26.9% compared with the same period last year, and the export volume was 48 billion 700 million (about 6 billion 700 million US dollars), an increase of 13.7% over the same period. Imports of the top five imported products were semi-finished products (21.9%), complete sets of equipment (21.6%), energy and lubricants (20.7%), manufactured goods (16.6%) and food (12.3%). Among them, the import volume of grain increased by 158.9% over the same period last year, which is related to the failure of grain harvest and the continuous rise in international grain prices. Due to soaring oil prices and other reasons, the cost of crude oil imports is as high as 10 billion 500 million (1 billion 400 million US dollars), up 56.7% from the same period last year. Among the countries of origin, France (15%), Spain (10%) and Italy (7.6%) account for the top three, while China has been relegated to sixth (5.2%) from last year's fifth largest importing country. On the export side, phosphate and its derivatives account for the largest share (27.7%), up 117.4% over the same period last year, while exports of textiles and leather goods, which are traditional exports, have declined slightly (-1.1%). In addition, the total import and export volume of trade in services in 1~4 months amounted to 46 billion 600 million (about 6 billion 400 million US dollars), up 4% from the same period last year. Among them, the import of 14 billion 300 million Di lamb (about 2 billion US dollars) was basically the same as that of the same period last year. The export of 32 billion 300 million Di lamb (about US $4 billion 400 million) increased by 6.1%. The surplus was 18 billion DL (about 2 billion 500 million US dollars), an increase of 11% over the same period last year.