Tunisia's Food Trade Balance Sees Sharp Decline in First Five Months of 2025
According to a report published by the National Observatory of Agriculture (Onagri), Tunisia's food trade balance experienced a sharp decline in the first five months of 2025, with a surplus of 744.2 million dinars compared to 1,584.2 million dinars during the same period in 2024. The coverage rate of imports by exports decreased from 153.6% to 125.7% over the course of a year.
This decline is primarily explained by a marked decrease in food exports falling by 19.7%, while imports decreased by only 1.9%. Exports of olive oil, Tunisia's main agricultural product, plummeted by 28.9%, while date exports decreased by 16%, and fishery products by 23.6%, despite a decrease in cereal imports (-14.9%), sugar (-56.1%), and vegetable oil imports (-18.7%).
The average price of olive oil exports recorded a significant decrease of 52.8%, falling to 12.81 dinars per kilo. Export prices for fishery products also decreased (-1.4%), while they increased for dates (+2.1%) and citrus fruits (+19.8%). On the import side, prices for durum wheat decreased by 18.8%, those for soft wheat by 1.2%, while they increased for barley (+5.9%) and corn (+8%). Sugar prices plummeted by 29%, while vegetable oils (+19.5%) and dairy products (+14.1%) became more expensive.
On a global scale, Tunisia's total trade deficit widened by 30.5% by the end of May 2025, amounting to -8,367.2 million dinars compared to -6,409.8 million dinars during the same period the previous year. Total imports increased by 6.1%, rising from 33,159.7 million dinars to 35,198.7 million dinars. Energy products and raw materials accounted for nearly half of imports (49.9%). Food imports, on the other hand, accounted for 8.2% of the total.
Despite this situation, the country's total exports slightly increased by 0.3%, amounting to 26,831.5 million dinars. Food exports accounted for 13.6% of this total. Finally, the surplus in the food trade balance helped to mitigate the global trade deficit by 8.9%.
