The volume of trade in February 2023 saw a 6.5% drop in exports following a 4.4% rise in January, according to the monthly note on "foreign trade at constant prices for February 2023," issued on Thursday, March 30, 2023, by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

Conversely, imports grew by 1.7%, following the 5.9% decline in January.

Consequently, the coverage rate in volume fell by 7 points to 80.3%.

Excluding energy, exports and imports dropped in volume by 0.8% and 5.4%, respectively, after the increases recorded in January 2023.

According to the INS, these drop-in exports is due to the decline by 76.4% in the volume of exports of the energy sector, 2.4% in textiles and clothing, 1.4% in mechanical and electrical industries and 2.5% in other industries.

On the other hand, the volume of exports of the mining, phosphates and derivatives sector showed a 6.6% rise, while that of the agricultural and food industries went up by 3.9%.

The increase in imports is due on the one hand to the rise by 44.81% in the volume of energy imports and the decline by 7% in the volume of imports of food products and capital goods, on the other.

However, the volume of consumer goods was almost stable (+0.3%), while the volume of raw materials increased slightly by 0.5%.

The prices of products excluding energy are almost stable (-0.2%) on the export side, while they are down by 3% for imports.