Year over year, the total value of Moroccan exports accelerated by 32% from $27.7 billion during 2020.
Morocco’s 5 top exported products by value are fertilizer mixes, cars, insulated wire or cable, phosphoric or polyphosphoric acids, then unknit and non-crocheted women’s clothing. Collectively, that quintet of major products represents 44.2% of total revenues for overall Moroccan exports.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2021, the Moroccan dirham appreciated by 7.3% against the US dollar since 2017 and was bolstered by 5.5% from 2020 to 2021. Morocco’s stronger local currency makes its exports paid for in weaker US dollars relatively more expensive for international buyers.
Morocco’s Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 73.9% of products exported from Morocco were bought by importers in: Spain (21.5% of Morocco’s global total), France (20.5%), Brazil (5.5%), India (4.9%), Italy (4.3%), United Kingdom (3.3%), United States of America (3%), Germany (2.9%), Netherlands (2.5%), Turkey (2.2%), Bangladesh (1.6%) and Belgium (1.5%).
From a continental perspective, almost two-thirds (65.5%) of Morocco’s exports by value were delivered to European countries while 14.1% were sold to importers in Asia. Morocco shipped another 8% worth of goods to Africa.
Smaller percentages went to Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (6.9%), North America (4.5%) then Oceania led by Australia and New Zealand (0.9%).
Given Morocco’s population of 36.3 million people, its total $36.6 billion in 2021 exports translates to roughly $1,000 for every resident in the northwest African country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $800 per capital one year earlier during 2020.
Morocco’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Moroccan global shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Morocco.
- Fertilizers: US$5.7 billion (15.6% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $5.2 billion (14.4%)
- Vehicles: $5 billion (13.8%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $2.5 billion (6.9%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $2.24 billion (6.1%)
- Fruits, nuts: $1.76 billion (4.8%)
- Fish: $1.76 billion (4.8%)
- Vegetables: $1.5 billion (4.1%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $1.2 billion (3.4%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $1.1 billion (3.1%)
Morocco’s top 10 exports amounted to over three-quarters (76.9%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Inorganic chemicals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 83.6% from 2020 to 2021.
In second place for Morocco’s improving export sales was fertilizers: via a 68.8% gain.
Morocco’s shipments of fish posted the third-fastest expansion in value up by 40.6%.
The mildest increase among Morocco’s top 10 export categories was vegetables thanks to a 12.6% boost year over year.
At the more detailed four-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level, in 2021 Morocco’s most valuable exported products were fertilizer mixes (14.1% of Morocco’s global total); cars (11.5%), insulated wire or cable (9.1%), phosphoric and polyphosphoric acids (6%), unknitted and non-crocheted women’s clothing (3.5%), moluscs (3.2%), aircraft parts (3%), natural calcium or aluminum phosphates (2.7%), fresh or chilled tomatoes (2.3%), automobile parts or accessories (2.2%) then fish including caviar (2%).
Products Attracting Biggest Trade Surpluses for Morocco
The following types of Moroccan product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Fertilizers: US$5.4 billion (Up by 73.7% since 2020)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $2.3 billion (Up by 35.9%)
- Fish: $1.5 billion (Up by 40.4%)
- Vegetables: $1.4 billion (Up by 18.4%)
- Fruits, nuts: $1.2 billion (Up by 11.8%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $1 billion (Up by 86.3%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $744.1 million (Down by -5.5%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $550.7 million (Up by 38.1%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $379.2 million (Up by 58.8%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $115 million (Up by 11.9%)
Morocco has highly positive net exports in the international trade of fertilizers. In turn, these cashflows indicate Morocco’s strong competitive advantages under the fertilizers product category.
Products Causing Worst Trade Deficits for Morocco
Morocco incurred an overall -$22.1 billion product trade deficit for 2021, growing 31.4% from $16.8 billion in red ink one year earlier.
Below are exports from Morocco that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Morocco’s goods trail Moroccan importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$8.2 billion (Up by 59.4% since 2020)
- Machinery including computers: -$5 billion (Up by 10.6%)
- Cereals: -$2.4 billion (Up by 4.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$2.3 billion (Up by 27.8%)
- Iron, steel: -$1.5 billion (Up by 23.8%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$1.3 billion (Up by 99.1%)
- Miscellaneous manufactured articles: -$923.6 million (Up by 121.2%)
- Manmade staple fibers: -$873.1 million (Up by 48.3%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: -$758.8 million (Up by 48.4%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$743.9 million (Up by 2.5%)
Morocco has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels including oil category notably for refined petroleum oils, petroleum gas, coal then petroleum coke including other residues from petroleum oil.
Moroccan Export Companies
Three Moroccan regional banks rank among Forbes Global 2000, namely:
- Attijariwafa Bank
- Banque Centrale Populaire
- BMCE Bank
Wikipedia lists some exports-related companies headquartered in Morocco. Selected examples are shown below.
- Akwa Group (oil, gas)
- Compagnie Marocaine de Navigation (shipping)
- Laraki (automobiles)
- Les Domaines Agricoles (agribusiness)
- Med Airlines (cargo airliner)
- Nareva (oil, gas)
- Office Chérifien des Phosphates (phosphate)
- Société Automobiles Ménara (automobiles)
- Somaca (automobiles)
- Sonasid (steel)
In macroeconomic terms, Morocco’s total exported goods represent 11.9% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2021 ($308.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 11.9% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2021 compares to 10.2% for 2020. This suggests a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Morocco’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Morocco’s unemployment rate averaged 11.9% for 2021, down from an average 12.2% in 2020 per the International Monetary Fund.
Morocco’s capital city is Rabat.
See also Morocco’s Main Imported Products, South Sudan’s Top 10 Exports, Somalia’s Top 10 Exports and Spain’s Top Trading Partners, Nigeria’s Top 10 Imports and South Africa’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Africa: Morocco. Accessed on June 14, 2022
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Morocco. Accessed on June 14, 2022
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 14, 2022
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on June 14, 2022
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 14, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 14, 2022
Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on June 14, 2022
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on June 14, 2022
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Morocco. Accessed on June 14, 2022
Wikipedia, Morocco. Accessed on June 14, 2022
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on June 14, 2022
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Rabat, Morocco. Accessed on June 14, 2022
