Tunisian food trade deficit drops to 82 % in first 8 months

Tunisia’s food trade deficit went down to 82 %  year on year in the first eight months, Tunisian Agriculture Ministry said Thursday.

The food trade deficit fell to 162.8 million dinars (58.8 million U.S. dollars) between January and August, down from 886.2 million dinars in 2017.

The sharp decline is mainly due to the export of olive oil, dates and seafood.

Tunisia’s food exports during the first eight months this year accounted for 13 percent of the country’s total exports.

The food trade balance showed a clear improvement in the coverage of imports by exports, i.e. 95.5%, against 69.7% during the same period of 2017.

The Ministry of Agriculture attributed the decline in this deficit to changes in the value of food exports which (value) exceeded that of imports (68.6% exports against 23.1% imports).

TunisianMonitorOnline

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