The food trade balance posted a deficit of TND 496.1 million at the end of July. The coverage rate stood at 89.1%, up 2.4 percentage points compared to late June 2023 (86.6%).

Exports amounted to TND 4,037.6 million while imports hit TND 4,533.7 million, figures released Tuesday by the National Observatory of Agriculture (French: ONAGRI) show.

This contraction is mainly driven by higher olive oil exports (+44.2%) and lower imports of grains (-3.5%) and vegetable oils (-21.5) – this in spite of an increase in the pace of imports of sugar (+139.4%) and – milk and by-products (+69.8%).

The share of food exports in foreign trade grew 0.4 percentage points compared to the end of July 2022, standing at 11.2% at the end of July 2023.

The share of imports in the country’s foreign trade dipped 0.4 percentage points to 9.8% in July 2023. Grain

Grain sales showed a downward trend in value (- 14.9%) while increasing in volume (4.4%). Prices of durum wheat, common wheat, barley and maize)fell between 16% and 30%.

The volume and value of other imports, except for vegetable oils, trended upwards.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse