“In the first quarter of 2023, companies in the manufacturing industry expect an increase in their production,” indicates the High Commission for Planning (HCP) in a recent information note.
According to the explanations of the public body responsible for the production, analysis and publication of official statistics in Morocco, these expectations are attributable to an increase in the activity of the “food industry”, the ” Metallurgy” and “Manufacture of electrical equipment”.
This development could also be explained by the decrease in the activity of the “Chemical industry” and the “Manufacture of machinery and equipment”, adds the High Commission.
It should be noted that the expectations of industrialists generally foresee a stability in the number of employees employed in the first quarter of this year, indicates, moreover, the HCP which has just revealed the results of its quarterly economic surveys of companies operating in the manufacturing industries sectors. , mining, energy, environment and construction.
In its briefing note, the public institution announces that companies operating in the extractive industries sector are also planning an increase in their production for the first quarter.
As explained by the institution headed by Ahmed Lahlimi Alimi, “this development is mainly attributable to an increase in the production of phosphates”.
It is important to emphasize that in terms of the workforce employed, the bosses surveyed as part of these quarterly surveys of this sector foresee a parallel decrease.
According to the results of the surveys carried out for the current first quarter, energy production should experience a drop in the first quarter of 2023, due to the decline in “Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioned”.
With regard to employment, the bosses of companies in this sector announce that they expect a drop in the workforce during the same quarter, indicates the High Commission.
During the same period, companies in the environmental industry anticipate, for their part, a stability in production, particularly in the activities of “Catchment, treatment and distribution of water” as well as in terms of the number of employees employed.
The HCP’s business tendency surveys of companies reveal at the same time that production in the manufacturing industry would have increased in the fourth quarter of 2022, following the increase in production in the branches of “Automotive industry”, “Manufacturing electrical equipment” and “Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products”.
This development is also due to the drop in production in the branches of “Beverage manufacturing”, “Furniture manufacturing” and “Textile manufacturing”, says the organization.
With regard to the sector’s order books, the bosses consider them to be at a normal level, whereas the selling prices of manufactured products would have increased during this period and employment would have remained stable.
“Overall, the production capacity utilization rate (TUC) in the manufacturing industry would have stood at 76%”, according to the HCP, noting that 45% of companies in the manufacturing industry would have encountered supply difficulties in raw materials, mainly those of foreign origin.
At the same time, 35% of the bosses estimate that the stocks of raw materials would have been at a normal level, the cash would have been considered “difficult”; while, by branch, this proportion reaches almost 47% in “Manufacture of textiles”.
Companies in the extractive industry estimate, for their part, that production would have fallen during the previous quarter, due to a decrease in phosphate production, and that order books would have been at a normal level whereas that employment would have declined.
On the side of the energy industry, production would have posted a drop mainly due to the decrease in “Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning”; while order books would have been at a normal level. As for employment, the High Commission reports that there has been an increase.
Attributable to a stagnation in the activity of “Capture, treatment and distribution of water”, the production of the environmental industry would have experienced stability during the last quarter of the past year.
“As for the order books in this sector, they would have settled at a normal level and employment would have experienced stability,” says the HCP.
The replacement of part of the equipment and the extension of the activity would have been the subject of the main objectives of investment expenditure in 2022 carried out by the majority of companies in the sectors of manufacturing, extractive and energy industries.
Alain Bouithy