The enthusiasm of the United States for the products of Moroccan craftsmanship does not weaken. Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy show that the USA monopolizes a share of 41% of handicraft exports “Made in Morocco”, i.e. nearly 95 million dirhams of exports at the end of January 2023.
These figures mark an increase of 9 points, i.e. an increase of approximately 79% on the part of the USA, followed by France (15%), i.e. a growth of 32% compared to January 2022, while only 9% of this volume goes to the Arab countries, which nevertheless record an improvement of 29%.
It should be noted that Crafts, the Kingdom’s second employer sector, provides work for a total of nearly 2.4 million people, 17% of whom work in crafts “with a high cultural content”, i.e. around 420,000 craftsmen.
In terms of the breakdown of Moroccan exports, pottery takes the lion’s share, followed by carpets, then traditional clothing. These 3 sectors achieved respective growth rates of 26%, 50% and 59% compared to the period of January-February 2022, thus testifying to the growing international demand and the relevance of the efforts to promote the products of the international craftsmanship.
A recent communication from the supervisory ministry reports a breakthrough in traditional clothing for export, which thus integrates the Top 3 that of the most successful families.
Traditional Clothing integrates alongside Pottery and Carpets, positioning itself in 3rd place in export turnover, with market shares of 15%, 32% and 22% respectively.
In addition, Casablanca maintains its share in global exports, i.e. 52%, and progresses by 34% year-on-year. As for Marrakech, it is still positioned as the leading production city for exported products (45%).