That dollar amount reflects a 43.5% increase compared to $29.6 billion five years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the total value of Moroccan exports flatlined via a 0.3% gain from $42.3 billion starting from 2022.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, the Moroccan dirham depreciated by -5.3% against the US dollar since 2019 but rose modestly by 0.3% from 2022 to 2023. Morocco’s weaker local currency compared to 2019 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Morocco’s Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 73.5% of products exported from Morocco was bought by importers in: Spain (22.5% of the Moroccan total), France (20.5%), Italy (5.2%), United Kingdom (4.5%), Germany (4.3%), United States of America (3%), India (2.87%), Brazil (2.84%), Türkiye (2.75%), Netherlands (2.2%), Portugal (1.6%) and Belgium (1.3%).
From a continental perspective, 70.5% of Morocco’s exports by value was delivered to European countries while 12.3% was sold to importers in Asia. Morocco shipped another 7.7% worth of goods to Africa.
Smaller percentages went to customers in North America (4.5%), Latin America (4.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.7%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Morocco’s population of 37 million people, its total $42.5 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $1,150 for every resident in the northwest African country. That dollar metric equals the average $1,150 per capital one year earlier during 2022.
Morocco’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Moroccan global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Morocco.
- Vehicles: US$8 billion (18.8% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $7.7 billion (18.2%)
- Fertilizers: $5.5 billion (12.9%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $2.9 billion (6.9%)
- Vegetables: $1.9 billion (4.4%)
- Fruits, nuts: $1.8 billion (4.2%)
- Fish: $1.7 billion (4%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $1.4 billion (3.2%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $1.3 billion (3%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $1.1 billion (2.5%)
Morocco’s top 10 exports amounted to over three-quarters (78%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Electrical machinery and equipment was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 28.8% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was vehicles via a 25.1% advance.
Morocco’s shipments of vegetables posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 12.2%.
The leading decliner among Morocco’s top 10 export categories was inorganic chemicals, pull down by a year-over-year drop.
At the more detailed four-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level, in 2023 Morocco’s most valuable exported products were cars (15.1% of Morocco’s global total), insulated wire or cable (11.7%), fertilizer mixes (11.3%), unknitted and non-crocheted women’s clothing (3.7%), automobile parts or accessories (3.2%), phosphoric and polyphosphoric acids (3%), natural calcium or aluminum phosphates (also 3%), fresh or chilled tomatoes (2.7%), moluscs (2.6%) then solar power diodes and semi-conductors (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$5.1 billion (Down by -29.6% since 2022)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $2.7 billion (Up by 7.2%)
- Vegetables: $1.6 billion (Up by 6.1%)
- Vehicles: $1.45 billion (Up by 62%)
- Fish: $1.4 billion (Up by 6.1%)
- Fruits, nuts: $1.2 billion (Down by -13.4%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $788.6 million (Down by -2.1%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $622.8 million (Up by 9.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $435 million (Reversing a -$35.2 million deficit)
- Ores, slag, ash: $335.9 million (Up by 1.8%)
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 -US$28.2 billion product trade deficit for 2023, decreasing by -7.6% from -$30.5 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$11.5 billion (Down by -21.6% since 2022)
- Machinery including computers: -$5.8 billion (Up by 12.3%)
- Cereals: -$3 billion (Down by -18.8%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$2.6 billion (Down by -1.4%)
- Iron, steel: -$1.7 billion (Down by -6.4%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$1.17 billion (Up by 18.3%)
- Miscellaneous manufactured articles: -$983 million (Down by -5.4%)
- Manmade staple fibers: -$961.7 million (Down by -4.6%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$938.6 million (Up by 17.8%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: -$791.7 million (Up by 43%)
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% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($387.3 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 11.1% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 11.7% for 2022. This suggests a relatively decreasing 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 13% for 2023, up from an average 11.8% in 2022 per International Monetary Fund statistics.
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 July 25, 2024
FlagPictures.org, Flag of Morocco. Accessed on July 25, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 25, 2024
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on July 25, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 25, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 25, 2024
Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on July 25, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 25, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Morocco. Accessed on July 25, 2024
Wikipedia, Morocco. Accessed on July 25, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 25, 2024