France’s exports to Algeria suffer heavy losses, figures close to zero

L’Opinion has become a reference for understanding Algerian-French relations and a source of information, due to the relationship of trust it has built with the Algerian authorities, as it is the only French newspaper that was able to conduct two interviews with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the last of which was about a week ago.

After its recent interview with Tebboune, which restored some calm to the turbulent waters between the two capitals, the newspaper returned to trace the effects of the worsening diplomatic crisis between the two countries, focusing on the economic repercussions of the persistent estrangement, which has been disastrous for French interests in Algeria, which until recently remained an exclusive and vital area of influence for the former colonialist.

Until 2002, France was the second-largest supplier of agro-food to Algeria, supplying nearly 14 percent of the country’s needs. These items consisted mainly of cereals, dairy products, live livestock and poultry, as well as sugar, raw beets, sweets, biscuits and processed vegetable dishes.

“Even if it declines steadily, our agricultural exports to Algeria totaled €1.3 billion in 2022,” explains Thierry Bouche, chief economist at the French Chambers of Agriculture. By the end of 2023, this amount had halved to €628 million, with another sharp drop expected in 2024, for which final figures have yet to be finalized.

While the French grain sector had almost absolute control over Algeria’s imports of this vital commodity, reaching 90 percent of its needs in 2018, the situation has undergone a dramatic shift in recent months.

In the language of numbers, the newspaper notes that in 2018, France supplied Algeria with 5.4 million tons of grain, equivalent to 80 to 90 percent of its needs, but in 2021, the figure dropped to only 2.1 million tons, and in 2023 to 608,000 tons. These volumes are expected to halve again by 2024, according to expert Thierry Bosch. By 2025, professionals expect the figure to be close to zero.

The Cenacomex grain exporters’ association bemoans the state of French grain exports to Algeria, which has been excluded from participating in the tender since July 2024, a period in which the French position on the Sahrawi issue was reversed, with Emmanuel Macron declaring his support for the Moroccan regime’s autonomy plan in Western Sahara, which, as is well known, caused Algeria to recall its ambassador from Paris.

The consequences were immediate, due to the crisis that erupted between Algeria and Paris in the summer of 2024, says the newspaper, which spoke of difficulties in communicating with Algerian partners, and described what happened on October 9, 2024 as a “thunderbolt,” a date that coincided with the exclusion of grains of French origin from tenders launched by the Algerian Professional Grain Office (OAIC), which controls the importation of grains.

French wheat was excluded from the bids for 500,000 tons of wheat launched by the OAIC. On December 24, the absence of French companies active in the field of grain exports was confirmed, and Algeria became heavily dependent on wheat from the Black Sea region, especially Russia, after importing about 90 percent of its needs from French wheat.

Aside from political calculations, French specialists have previously expressed their surprise at Algeria’s reliance on French wheat, which is of lower quality and more expensive than wheat from Russia or Ukraine, which means that the abandonment of French wheat was logical, even if the repercussions of the worsening diplomatic crisis between the two countries may have played a role in this.

Since last July, Algeria no longer receives French cattle meat, as well as dairy products. In 2024, exports fell by a quarter between January and November compared to the same period in 2023, and the situation is worse for most of the manufactured products that were destined for Algeria.