According to data released by the National Observatory of Agriculture (ONAGRI), Tunisia’s food trade balance saw a deficit of 180.6 million dinars (€54 mln) in February 2021, against a surplus of 24.4 million dinars (€7.3) in the same month of the previous year. The coverage rate has reached 83.3% in 2021 against 102.6% in 2020.
According to the data, the deficit recorded is the result of the increase in the pace of grain imports (+13.1%) on the one hand and the decline in olive oil exports (-7.5%) and dates (-4.0%) on the other hand. This was despite the increase in exports of citrus (+35.4%), tomatoes (+22.4%) and fish (+7.4%) In terms of value, food exports went down 8.1% while imports grew 13.2%.
Export prices have seen an increase of 31.1% for tomatoes as compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, those of dates and citrus fruits have declined by 15.7% and 1.4% respectively.
Source: en.africanmanager.com