Moroccan beekeepers warn of severe impact from honey import tariff reduction

Moroccan beekeepers have expressed concerns over the government’s decision to reduce the honey import tariff from 40% to 2.5%, warning that it will have “significant consequences” on local production and cause “serious harm” to cooperatives and businesses in the sector.

While Moroccan beekeepers are not opposed to importing honey, given the modest levels of domestic production, they argue that the scale of the tariff reduction outlined in the 2025 Finance Law is excessive.

Hassan Benbel, President of the National Union of Beekeeping Professionals in Morocco, stated: “The issue is not the logic of importing, but the fact that such a drastic tariff reduction undermines fair competition. Local honey prices cannot be fairly compared to those of imported honey under these conditions.”

Benbel further explained to Hespress AR that Moroccan law allows professionals to mix local honey with imported honey, but some actors in the industry use this to their advantage, adding only 10% local honey to the imported product in a clear case of deceptive practices. He emphasized: “We want to continue importing, but the problem is that some companies, through this tariff reduction, are looking to increase their profit margins at the expense of Moroccan beekeepers.”

According to Benbel, this move will clearly harm local beekeepers, contradicting claims that it will create more jobs. “If it weren’t for the parliament, none of us would have even known about this unprecedented decision,” he added.

In a statement released on Sunday, the National Union of Beekeeping Professionals in Morocco stressed that the approval and implementation of this tariff reduction deal a severe blow to any local investment in the beekeeping sector, potentially leading to the loss of thousands of permanent and seasonal jobs.

The union further argued that this decision is a continuation of the setbacks caused by Article 10 of Decree No. 2.17.463, issued on November 14, 2017, which allows Moroccan honey to be mixed with imported honey. This has led to a situation of rent-seeking, benefiting only a handful of companies at the expense of thousands of beekeepers (36,300 beekeepers, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s 2019 statistics).

The union concluded that this tariff reduction will open the floodgates for an influx of imported honey into the Moroccan market, exacerbating the current situation.

Local industry has yet to recover from the devastating collapse of honeybee colonies in Morocco, which destroyed over 70% of hives in the 2021-2022 period.