São Paulo – Exports via the Tanger Med port, in Morocco, fetched US$ 4 billion last year, an increase of 40% over 2013. The data was released this Tuesday (21th) by the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency, the manager of the maritime terminal.
The growth was mainly driven by foreign sales of auto and equipment from Renault to other car manufacturers in Europe. In total, the French automaker carried out approximately 160,000 operations in all platforms of the Moroccan port. Besides the auto sector, the increase in exports from the Moroccan port was impacted by the electronic, aviation and textile sectors.
According to the press release, 2014 was also marked by the opening of new industrial plants in Tanger Med’s industrial area, with private investments of US$ 80 million and the creation of 2,000 new job posts.
Many of the new projects are from the auto sector, especially in the activities of plastic injection, connectors and interior design, provided by companies from several countries, such as United States, Spain, Tunisia and Italy.
In the textile sector, a project was implemented to help digital fabric printing, with investment of US$ 10 million per year through a joint venture with the Spanish group Santadena.
Last year, the Indian group Sumilon made its first investment, worth US$ 30.1 million, for the processing of industrial resin, and a memorandum of understanding was signed with SSG Group for the first Chinese investment at Tanger Med, of US$ 150 million, for steel processing.
The press release mentions that the Tanger Med industrial zone is a competitive regional hub with 650 companies, employing more than 50,00 people, specially in the auto, textile, aerospace and services sectors.
Tangier’s industrial zone has approximately 1,200 hectares of area, including the Tangier Free Zone, the Tangier Automotive City , Renault Tanger (plant of the French manufacturer in the Moroccan city), Tetouan Park, an industrial and logistics complex, and Tetouan Shore, an area that hosts IT service companies.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
