The food trade balance recorded a deficit of 2,496.1 million dinars (MD), at the end of September 2022, against a deficit of 1,556.3 MD during the same period of the previous year, according to data published by the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI) Tuesday.
The rate of coverage therefore stood at 62.4% in 2022, against 67.2% in 2021, says the same source.
The deficit is the result of rising pace of imports of grain (+45.5%), vegetable oils (+125.6%), sugar (+99.8%) and soybean meal (+99.5%), despite the increase in exports of olive oil (+31.8%).
In terms of value, food exports picked up 29.8% and imports increased by 39.9%.
According to ONAGRI, the average price of olive oil has risen significantly (10.78 DT / kg), posting an increase of 32.0% compared to the previous year.
The price of durum wheat has recorded an increase of 88.5% compared to last year.
As for the prices of other grain products (soft wheat, barley and corn), they saw a rise ranging between 43% and 62%.
This increase is mainly related to the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Export prices grew 32.0% for olive oil, 12.7% for citrus, 7.3% for fishery products and 0.2% for tomatoes compared to the same period last year.
In contrast, the prices of dates have declined by 4.3%.
Regarding grain import prices, they post a rise of (+88.5%) for durum wheat, (+61.9%) for barley, (+61.3%) for soft wheat and (+42.8%) for corn. The same is true for the price of vegetable oils (+60.2%), sugar (+55.5%) and soybean meal.
