The trade deficit has widened to 13.3 billion dinars, until the end of October 2021, from 10.7 billion dinars, during the same period of 2020, this is what emerges from the monthly newsletter on Foreign Trade at current prices, published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) Thursday.
Thus, the coverage rate has lost 0.4 points compared to the same period of 2020 to 74%.
The worsening of the deficit is explained by a more significant rise of imports (+21.6%) compared to exports (+20.9%).
In fact, according to statistics from the INS, imports have reached 51.2 billion dinars, while exports have not exceeded 37.8 billion dinars, at the end of October 2021.
During the same period last year, imports were about 42.1 billion dinars, and exports about 31.3 billion dinars.
Food trade balance deficit of 1,699.2 MD
On its part, the food trade balance recorded a deficit of 1,699.2 MD, at the end of October 2021, against 619.5 MD during the same period of the previous year, that is to say a coverage rate of 67.3% in 2021 against 86.7% in 2020, according to data published by the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI) Thursday.
In terms of value, food exports dropped 13.5% while imports grew 11.5%.
According to ONAGRI, the deficit recorded is mainly the result of the increase in the pace of imports of grain (+20.0%) on the one hand and the decline in olive oil exports (-33.2%), on the other hand.
Export prices saw an increase of 40.2% for olive oil, at the end of October 2021, with a clear improvement in the average price (8.23 DT / kg) and 11.5% for tomatoes compared to the same period last year.
However, the prices of dates, citrus fruits and fisheries products have declined by 12.8%, 7.9% and 6.9% respectively.
For imports, ONAGRI said import prices of grain until end October 2021 posted a growth of (+16.4%) for durum wheat, (+28.0%) for soft wheat, (+33.2%) for barley and (+51.6%) for corn.
The same is true for the price of milk and derivatives (+14.9%), vegetable oils (+34.5%) and sugar, (+8.4%), while the prices of meat and potatoes have dropped (-41.4%) and (-19.2%), respectively.
