Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Creation and Development of Market Institutions
100
In fact, the current situation requires Tunisia to diversify the agricultural product portfolio and
appliances of traditional commodities (e.g. olives and dates used in pharmaceuticals,
cosmetics, essentials, paste, wood, snacks, beverages, and other food products). This requires
moving to upmarket segments, diversifying traditional products, and shifting to more high
value-added products are essential through processing and packaging of both traditional and
non-traditional commodities. An example includes processing activities in Tunisia’s date
sector, which particularly has moved upmarket with regards to preservation and package
activities.162
Distribution and Market
The high degree of small-scale farmers, geographical dispersion, and disorganization – only
4% of Tunisia’s farmers are organized in cooperatives163 - further fragment and impede
Tunisia’s agricultural market, particularly connecting rural small-scale farmers with (urban)
wholesale markets. Indeed, an efficient distribution channel is the key missing market channel
in Tunisia’s agricultural market system as too many intermediaries and traders are involved.
This also undermines the exact traceability of Tunisia’s agricultural products. However,
Tunisia’s aquaculture sector is structured by means of weekly wholesale fishing markets,
which are present in each fishing port, operating as main and direct distributor of all seafood
products.
Tunisia’s biggest wholesale market, Bir El Kassaa, represents about 40% of Tunisia’s
agricultural trade. Taxes for Bir El Kassaa include taxes levied by the state, intermediaries, and
the Tunisian Company of Wholesale Markets (SOTUMAG), a public limited company firm
managing the Bir El Kassaa wholesale market. 164 Municipal markets are organized and
managed by local authorities, which are collectivity supervised by the Ministry of Commerce
and Crafts. A program developed together with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
looks to restructure 144 municipal wholesale markets to improve the market performance.
This includes improving market infrastructure as well as its management.
Consumption and Trade
Tunisia, despite its considerable export of olives and olive oil, has been a net importer of
agricultural products for the last two decades. 165 Indeed, it imported foods for more than
US$2.14 billion over 2014166 while it only exported food products for US$1.31 billion in the
same year, indicating to a trade deficit of more than US$830 million. Tunisia’s agricultural
trade deficit – though measured in 2013 – is slightly larger, equaling US$1.09 billion (US$2.61
worth of agricultural imports vis-à-vis US$1.52 billion worth of agricultural exports).167 About
75% of Tunisia’s agro-food trade concerns imports from and exports to the EU market168 while
Tunisia’s domestic food production value equaled nearly US$4 billion in 2015.
162 Ibid
163 Interview conducted with Ministry of Investment, Development, and International Cooperation in Tunis, May 15, 2017
164 Nawaat (2015), Food Markets in Tunisia: State Institutions and Controls for Distribution Circuits of Agricultural and
Seafood Products, available a
Accessed May 2017].
165 Export.gov (2016), Tunisia - Agriculture, available a Accessed
May 2017].
166 FAO (2016), FAOSTAT, available a Accessed May 2017].
167 COMCEC (2016), COMEC Agricultural Outlook 2016, pp. 55-90, Ankara: COMCEC.
168 African Development Bank (2012), Economic Brief - Distortions to Agricultural Policy Incentives in Tunisia: A Preliminary
Analysis, pp. 5-11, Tunis: African Development Bank.