Newspaper article 18, Contraband Modern in the Fes Medina

CONTRABAND HAS CHANGED CONSUMING HABITS OF EASTERN MOROCCAN FAMILIES

By Abdeltif Errami

It is from the borders between Morocco and Algeria and the occupied Mellila that foreign goods enter to invade the Moroccan markets. These products have changed the consuming habits of many eastern families to the extent that we can very rarely find any home without such products, especially furniture and foodstuffs. It has become very common for a Moroccan consumer to ask if products are Moroccan or Spanish or Algerian. Smuggling in Morocco is a clear war on the Moroccan economy especially in the eastern region where contraband products arrive in a speedy time, about 600km far from Casablanca, the Moroccan economic capital. Contraband in the eastern region has been legitimised by the absence of units of production; rich people of this region invest in assets as a more profitable sector, some people just leave the region. All this makes Moroccan products unable to compete and lead to their subsequent surrender. Consequently, the official campaigns to stop this phenomenon have failed since they do not attempt to resolve the problem of unemployment (more than 19%). So because of this and the low prices of the smuggled products, consumers are more tempted to buy these products; there are some markets that sell nothing but smuggled products such as the "Peasant’s Market" in Oujda. According to a survey done by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, contraband has caused more than 32,400 jobs to be lost and the figure may reach 60,000; the survey also reveals that persons practising smuggling are about 6,000: 1,650 in Oujda, 400 to 650 in Berkan, 250 to 400 in Tawrirt, 2,600 to 3,395 in Nador, and in other regions about 300 to 455. Sometimes its very hard to limit smuggled products because we can even find non-industrial goods like flour, tea, cheese and milk; the flour coming from Algiers is 17% cheaper than the Moroccan one. The same survey shows that the Moroccan flour production has had a loss of 40%; as for milk production, it has incurred a great loss in eastern cooperatives, a loss of 26% in yoghurts and 50% in cheeses. Despite the danger of food poisoning consumers buy smuggled milk because of its cheap price (50% less than Moroccan milk); sometimes their dates of expiry labels are falsified.

Contraband sweets and chocolates are well known like the smuggled "Maruja chocolate" from Spain brought in through Mellila and Ceuta. These delicious products are well packaged and and consumed despite high prices. Although Moroccans consider cheap Algerian fizzy drinks of low quality, Algerian dates are considered of a higher quality and more expensive (30 dirham\kilo). They are consumed mainly during Ramadan.

If we look at the quantity of contraband products in Moroccan markets we can find that the Algerian goods out number Spanish ones. Smuggling has shifted from Spainish frontiers to the Algerian ones; the latter have destroyed Spanish goods to the extent that smugglers from Nador go to Oujda and Bnidrar. Examination of some goods from Algiers showed 67% of good quality, 25% of average and 8% of bad quality. A lot of people interviewed by "Sabah" declare that smuggling has become a common activity in Morocco, a citizen says:

"Now I maintain my family by contraband products because as I have a low salary I cannot buy Moroccan ones which are expensive ". Another Moroccan says: " I am Moroccan and proud of it, but our government should lower prices". A third person says: "Contraband maintains many Moroccan families as both consumers and practitioners ".

Translated by Elkhattabi Sakina