Lekjaa: Morocco rejects meat import duty hike amid shortage

Morocco's government has rejected an amendment filed by the Justice and Development Party (PJD) group in the House of Representatives that sought to scrap the permanent exemption from import duties on live cattle, sheep, goats and camels, as well as their fresh, chilled and frozen meat and offal. The debate took place during discussion of amendments to the 2027 Finance Bill at the Finance and Economic Development Committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, according to Al3omk.

Fouzi Lekjaa, Minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform, defended the government's position, arguing that the current situation does not allow a return to customs duties on these imports, given the recorded shortfall in meat supply relative to demand and the resulting rise in domestic prices.

The PJD's case: 37 billion dirhams with no effect on prices

The PJD group justified its proposal by arguing that recent years have shown the customs exemptions did not positively affect meat prices, did not help rebuild the national herd, and instead hurt farmers, breeders, food sovereignty and rural employment. The group said importers captured the benefits of the customs and VAT exemptions without passing the savings on to butchers and consumers, noting that the fiscal and customs expenditure linked to these exemptions reached 37 billion dirhams between 2022 and October 2026.

Why the government says raising duties now would push prices up further

Lekjaa explained that managing the meat import file involves two linked problems: first, a shortfall in meat supply compared with ordinary citizen demand, which pressures supply and raises prices; second, the growing depletion of the national herd due to difficult climate conditions in recent years. He added that the supply shortfall pushes herders to draw on the national herd to meet demand, particularly by slaughtering females, which affects reproduction and deepens the herd's decline.

When could customs duties be reimposed?

Lekjaa stressed that rebuilding the national herd is not a quick process, since sheep farming takes more than one to two years, noting that keeping ewes for breeding does not produce immediate results. He added that the government is also counting on improved climate conditions and rainfall to let the national herd recover, noting that once the herd regains its balance, customs duties can be reimposed and import restrictions tightened.

On earlier government measures, Lekjaa said that support for sheep import operations came in the context of preparing for Eid al-Adha, stressing that this support had no effect on market prices. He also revealed that the later move to a licensing-based import system did not achieve the expected results, explaining that the government no longer wants to leave the process dependent on a limited number of importers, but intends to directly frame it, from setting purchase prices in the country of origin through transport costs to the retail price on the domestic market, in order to ensure an abundant supply at reasonable prices and avoid slaughtering the national herd. On the legal form, Lekjaa said it would be better to regulate imports through a formal regulatory text rather than leaving the matter to administrative discretion.