Las exportaciones de la industria automovilística marroquí se duplican consiguiendo cifras récord
The automotive industry has managed to position itself as one of Morocco's main economic keys after leading the largest export sectors. This positioning has led to an improvement in the foreign exchange balance and has contributed to achieving a proportional balance in the exchange of commercial exports after having managed to expand both in the European market and in the various Arab and African markets.
According to data provided by Casa de Cambio, the automotive sector has not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as it shows that exports in this sector have doubled during the first five months of the year. The value of these exports amounted to around $3.19 billion in the period January to May, an increase of 49% year-on-year.
According to statistics published on its website regarding foreign trade data, "the country's automobile exports grew by 49.5% until the end of May 2021, compared to the same period in 2020". These data respond to a growth that is mainly due to "the increase in the volume of sales of the installation sector by 44%, cables by 47.4% and supplies by 41%".
In Morocco, the automotive industry represents one of the most important sectors of foreign direct investment. In addition, the sector employs more than 160,000 people and has 251 factories. In this respect, Morocco has already surpassed the rest of the North African countries. The Minister of Industry and Trade, Hafeez al-Alami, told a parliamentary committee that Morocco "ranks third in the world in terms of competitiveness in the automotive industry, after India and China".
Al-Alami said the industry's revenues would boost the Moroccan economy by 31.6 billion dirhams, equivalent to about $3.6 billion. In addition to this, Morocco's export volume is expected to increase by 12 billion dollars by 2022 and by 25 billion dollars by 2025. In this line, experts say that Morocco has developed an important automotive industry that has contributed to a greater diversification of the country's economy since it suffered from a heavy dependence on the primary sectors of agricultural crops and phosphate exports.
Along these lines, exports in the agricultural sector have remained quasi-stable at +0.6%. The figures report that this development is due to the increase in agricultural sales, forestry and hunting of 2.6%, cushioned by the decline in sales of the food industry.
In a post-COVID perspective, Morocco is expected to emerge as one of the leading countries in the industry. Last January, Morocco signed two agreements with two Japanese consortiums, the global automotive parts supplier firms Yazaki and Sumitomo, which have led to the creation of four factories creating 8,300 jobs and involving an overall investment of 912 million dirhams.
For the minister, the new investments are a demonstration of the resilience of the Moroccan industrial sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and an act of confidence in Moroccan production platforms that are expected to experience "growth in favour of the world's industrial leaders".
Al-Alami said: "Under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, Morocco is on the verge of becoming the most competitive automotive hub in the world. We plan to continue on this path by improving the deep integration of our ecosystems and decarbonising industrial production".
In this way, the Moroccan automotive industry has managed to increase its figures in a context that has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, thus promising to maintain and lead the sector in the region.
