The food trade balance deficit shrank by 64% at the end of November 2023, to stand at TND 723 million, compared with TND 2,013 million during the same period of the previous year, according to data released on Friday by the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI).
The coverage rate achieved was 89.4% at the in late November 2023, compared with 72.1% at the end of November 2022.
In terms of value, food exports rose by 17.6% compared with the end of November 2022, to TND 6,117.8 million. Imports fell by 5.2% to TND 6,840.9 million at the end of November 2023, compared with the same period last year.
According to ONAGRI, the decline in the deficit is mainly due to the rise by 48.1% in olive oil exports and the fall by 11.3% in grain imports and 38.2% in vegetable oil imports, despite the increase in sugar imports by 72.0% and in milk and milk by-products by 50.3%.
Export prices rose by 58.7% for olive oil, 28.7% for tomatoes, 5.1% for dates and 1% for citrus fruits, compared with the same period the previous year. However, the average export price for fish products fell by 6.6%.
Conversely, import prices for grain fell by 26.6% for durum wheat, 22.4% for common wheat, 25.4% for barley and 20.8% for maize.
Vegetable oils also dropped by 22.7%, as did milk and milk by-products (-4%), while sugar prices rose by 13.4%.
Source: Zawya
