The Wholesale Trade is Recovering in Morocco

Good news: the wholesale trade in Morocco is not too disturbed by the Russian-Ukrainian war! That explains why wholesalers’ expectations for the first quarter of the year 2022, which has just ended, have, by and large, come true, and why professionals are rather confident for the rest of the year.

Indeed, according to the expectations of wholesalers, which emerge from the quarterly survey of the High Commission for Planning (HCP), 69% of them expected a stable overall volume of their sales during the first quarter of 2022 and 18% to an increase over the same period. In other words, 87% of wholesalers expected no damage to their sales volumes.

In the end, the increase in sales was achieved by professionals in the “Wholesale of information and communication equipment” and “Other specialized wholesale”. On the other hand, professionals in the “Wholesale of other industrial equipment” recorded a decline in their sales in the first quarter of 2022. However, the expected orders were at a normal level.

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75% of wholesalers have returned to normal order levels

In fact, 75% of business leaders expected this, while 15% thought it would be below normal. That said, in terms of employment, 70% of wholesalers expected staff numbers to remain stable, compared with 27 who were convinced that staff numbers would increase. In other words, even though 28% of business owners expected to have to manage with a difficult cash flow, the recovery is indeed here. “Our business is not much affected by the war in Ukraine.

“Most of the equipment we sell comes, in general, from the Asian continent where there is another threat lurking, namely the risk of closure of the port of Shanghai because of the Covid-19 raging in this city,” said in particular Mohamed S., a wholesaler in computer equipment, who preferred to remain anonymous. Indeed, because of the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in this Chinese city, the authorities have started to confine the city. But the port of Shanghai, the world’s largest commercial port in terms of container traffic and tonnage, is not in danger of being closed.

Because, “if Shanghai were to shut down completely, many international cargo ships would find themselves [waiting] in the East China Sea and this would have an impact on the entire national economy and the world economy,” it is explained.

…Despite a slight price increase

So international transport via the port of Shanghai will continue, as will the recovery of wholesale trade. Moreover, professionals are optimistic for the rest of the year, a period when they almost all think that their activities will regain a real dynamic.

In any case, wholesalers are far from the difficulties they experienced in the 4th quarter of 2021 when 14% recorded a decline in sales, against 29% of them who experienced an increase in sales. The increase in sales was particularly recorded by professionals in “Wholesale of other industrial equipment”, “Wholesale of household goods”, “Wholesale of raw agricultural products and live animals,” and “Other specialized wholesale (fuels, ores and metals).”

Employment was stable for 79% of business owners. Inventories of goods were also at a normal level and the trend in selling prices was up according to 42% of wholesalers.

Vegetable prices are rising again

At the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, vegetable prices are back on the rise in wholesale markets, and by ricochet in retail markets. This is what reveals the mercurial prices of vegetables of Wednesday, March 30th, provided by the MAP.

It shows that the potato is 5 or 6 DH per kilogram, the onion (7-8 DH/kg), the tomato (10-12 DH/kg), the bell pepper (8-10 DH/kg), the carrot (4-7 DH/kg), the eggplant (6-7 DH/kg), the cucumber (5-8 DH/kg), the zucchini (9-11 DH/kg), the cauliflower (6-9 DH/kg), the cabbage (3,5-8 DH/kg), the bean (13 and 15 DH/kg).

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(Featured image by tookapic via Pixabay)

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First published in Les Eco.ma, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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