The food trade balance recorded a surplus of 823.4 MD during the first seven months of the year 2025, compared to a surplus of 1,729.2 MD during the same period of the previous year, according to statistics published Monday by the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI).
The coverage rate of imports by exports reached 121.8% at the end of July 2025, compared to 143.4% at the end of July 2024.
In terms of value, food exports declined 19.4% while imports decreased by 5.1%.
The observed decline results mainly, on the one hand, from the decrease in exports of olive oil (-31.1%), dates (-12.1%) and fishery products (-4.7%), despite the decrease in imports of grain (-20.5%), sugar (-36.6%) and vegetable oils (-30.0%).
The average export price of olive oil fell to TND 12.86 /kg, recording a decrease of 52.3% compared to the previous year.
As for import prices of grain products, they fell by 17.9% for durum wheat and by 1.4% for soft wheat, while they increased by 6.5% for barley and 9.7% for maize.
It should be recalled that the deficit of the country’s overall trade balance, during the first seven months of the year 2024, had recorded an increase of 23.6% with (-11,904.5 MD) at the end of July 2025 compared to (-9,631.8 MD) at the end of July 2024.
Total imports went from 46,666.7 MD at the end of June 2024 to 48,877.9 MD at the end of July 2025, i.e., an increase of 4.7%.
The two product groups, energy and raw materials and semi-finished products, together represented 49.8% of the country’s total imports.
Food imports represented 7.7% of total imports. Total exports recorded a slight decrease of 0.2%, going from 37,034.9 MD to 36,973.4 MD. Food exports represented 12.5% of total exports.
The surplus of the food trade balance thus contributed to reducing the deficit of the overall trade balance by 6.9%.
Surplus of the food balance, first 3 quarters of 2024
It should be recalled that the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI) indicated that the food trade balance recorded a surplus of 1,529.7 million dinars during the first nine months of 2024, compared to a deficit of 764.7 million dinars during the same period of the previous year.
ONAGRI specified, in its monthly bulletin, that the import price of durum wheat experienced a decrease of 13.3%, of 20.4% for soft wheat, 26% for barley, and 24% for maize. The price of vegetable oils also recorded a decrease of 14.4% and of 6.6% for milk and derivatives.
“The surplus recorded is essentially the result, on the one hand, of the increase in exports of olive oil (+56.9%), dates (+25.9%) and fishery products (+3.7%) and, on the other hand, of the decline in imports of sugar (-42.6%) and cereals (-20.2%) …
In terms of value, food exports recorded an increase of 31.5% while imports decreased by 12.5%,” added the same source.
On the other hand, ONAGRI explained that export prices saw an rise of 59.0% for olive oil, 21.8% for citrus fruits, 5.4% for fishery products and 3.5% for dates compared to the same period of the previous year.
