Food industry, construction and habitat, and chemical and plastics industry, sectors with the greatest opportunity in Morocco

Business opportunities day in Morocco

The bilateral economic relations between Spain and Morocco are very intense and are quite balanced and growing. Spain is the first customer and the first supplier for Morocco, above France and China.

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On the other hand, Morocco is the third destination market for Spanish exports outside the EU, after the United States and the United Kingdom, and the first in Africa. Thus, in 2022, exports from Spanish companies to Morocco reached 11.748 million euros and imports reached 8.692 million. 

 

To analyze the characteristics of the Moroccan market and the business opportunities it offers to companies from Alicante and the rest of Spain, the Chamber of Alicante, through co-financing from FEDER, and the collaboration of ICEX and Banco Sabadell, dedicated this week a online day. 

 

As explained Luis Ferrero, head of the International Area of ​​the Alicante Chamber, in charge of moderating the webinar, the three macro sectors with the greatest opportunity are food industry, construction and habitat, and chemical and plastics industry. 

 

For its part, Vicente Roncero, provincial director of Commerce and ICEX Alicante, who presented ICEX tools and services; while Manuel Rodríguez Díez, economic and commercial advisor of the Spanish Embassy in Casablanca, and Alberto Ordobás Gavin, Market analyst at the Spanish Embassy in Morocco, addressed the characteristics of the market. Finally Adolfo López Macías, commercial director of Banco Sabadell Morocco, reported on the most common payment and collection methods in the country and the financing products that the bank offers to Spanish investments in Morocco.

 

El economic and commercial advisor of the Spanish Embassy in Morocco, Manuel Rodríguez, presented the Moroccan market as a market that must be approached “calmly and always looking at the long term” and not with “short-term strategies.” In this regard, Rodríguez encouraged companies to take advantage of the intra-industrial relationship and vertical integration that is taking place in sectors such as the automotive and agribusiness to enter this market, and discarded other businesses. “We always try to discourage the resale and trade of products that are not genuinely Spanish because it is always problematic with customs and regulatory bodies,” he said.

 

El market analyst Alberto Ordobás He was in charge of detailing the characteristics of the country. Morocco is a country that, with 37 million inhabitants, has a GDP 10% higher than that of the Valencian Community, and enjoys relative political and economic stability. “There are a series of positive factors: the location (we are 14 km away) is a fundamental factor; Proximity means that logistics costs are low; It is an open country, with free trade agreements with many countries and the main economic blocks; At the infrastructure level, efforts are being made: there is the high-speed train that connects Casablanca with Tangier and the connection with Marrakech is planned, the port of Tangier-Med is one of the main ports in the Mediterranean, they have more than 2.500 km of highways and highways, international airports…”, listed the expert. Regarding the business climate, "in Africa it occupies third position and worldwide in position 75, above other emerging countries such as Brazil, India or Vietnam." 

 

Spain-Morocco trade relations, Alberto Ordobás pointed out that it is a “dynamic” relationship, which increases little by little each year, and with prominent sectors, such as automotive, fuel, or textile, on the Spanish side, and fish and seafood, automotive, textile and material electrical on the Moroccan side. “I would insist on complementarity: For this relationship to enjoy good health we have to encourage the balance to be balanced., take advantage of some competitive advantages of Morocco and also have Moroccan imports at a reasonable price, this is one of the keys, the integration of value chains, if Morocco does well, Spain will do well, and vice versa.”

 

In this regard, for a company interested in doing business in the Alawite kingdom, the analyst recommended carrying out a detailed analysis of the market, carefully studying the possible partners with whom it is going to establish a relationship, taking advantage of the services of Spanish institutions and entities present. in the country, get advice, respect the procedures -“avoid shortcuts, for example in customs and documentary issues,” he stressed- and keep an eye on the negotiations because “things are somewhat calm here, you have to be on top of things.”

 

As for most common problems of the market, the expert referred to the selection of personnel, the complications at customs, the certifications that must be met to export certain products (industrial, food or pharmaceutical, for example), and the delays in payment.

 

Financing Options

 

In relation to the financial aspects of operations in Morocco, Adolfo López Macías, commercial director of Banco Sabadell Morocco, detailed the most frequent means of payment and collection and financing in the country. “The financing is quite similar to that of Spain,” he specified, citing products such as credit policies, medium and long-term credits and the commercial discount of bills of exchange (equivalent to our promissory notes), the financing of imports in currency, the advance payment of invoices in public tenders, documentary credit, the issuance of guarantees or confirming, less common but which they try to encourage. “For non-established companies, they can also be financed indirectly, with advance payments from Morocco. It is allowed to advance up to 30% of the invoice amount for more than 200.000 dirham (around 50.000 euros), and up to 100% for less than 200.000 dirham,” López explained.

 

Banco Sabadell, which opened its branch in Casablanca in 2009, signed an agreement with the ICO last year to offer the International ICO Line. This line provides financing (from one million euros) for investments and working capital both to companies with Spanish interest (at least 30% of the shareholders must be Spanish) and to Moroccan companies that buy or sell to Spanish companies.

 

Trade mission to Morocco at the end of May

 

The Alicante Chamber took advantage of the webinar to report on a trade mission to Morocco from May 29 to June 2, especially aimed at companies in the habitat and construction, toy, chemical, plastic and pharmaceutical sectors, and open to all companies in the Valencian Community. Registration to participate is open until April 18 and participants will have an individualized work agenda at the destination. 

 

From the Spanish Embassy in Casablanca it was pointed out that, practically coinciding with dates, a fbusiness gold with the assistance of ministers and senior officials from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and the Moroccan ministry.