The food trade deficit widened by 79.7% in the first quarter of 2023, reaching 110.7 million dinars against 61.6 million dinars in the same period last year, according to data published by the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI) Saturday.
The coverage rate thus reaches 94.4%, against 96.6% at the end of March 2022.
Grain and sugar imports on the rise
According to the Observatory, the deficit recorded is mainly due to the increase in the rate of imports of grain (+9.2%) and sugar (+73.1%), despite the increase in olive oil exports (+21.5%).
In terms of value, food exports went up 7.0% compared to the first quarter of 2002, reaching 1857.5 million dinars.
The same is true for imports, which increased by 9.5% to reach 1968.2 million dinars.
According to ONAGRI, export prices grew 51.3% for tomatoes, 4.4% for citrus fruits and 3.7% for dates compared to the same period last year.
On the other hand, prices of olive oil and fishery products fell by 19.3% and 7.6% respectively.
On the import side, the prices of durum wheat fell by 18.7% compared to the first quarter of 2002. On the other hand, the prices of other grain products (common wheat, barley and maize) increased by between 1% and 8%.
The same is true for sugar (+20.1%), milk and its derivatives (+18.0%) and vegetable oils (+1.7%).
The deficit of the country’s balance of trade with the rest of the world dropped by 12% to 3846.2 MD at the end of March.
