Mohamed Tazi, General Manager of the Moroccan Textile and Apparel Manufacturers Association (AMITH), stated that the textile products imported from Turkey weakened the country's export volume and accordingly the economy. Speaking to a news site named Lavieeco, which is located in Casablanca and broadcasts in French, Tazi said that the additional import taxes against the Turkish goods did not work because of the depreciation of Turkish lira. Tazi, who regards the Turkish companies as the biggest obstacle in front of the growth of textile exports in Morocco, claimed that: "In 2018 including May, we could achieve an export rate of only 1.7 percent in garment products and only 4.2 percent in knitwear-related products. These numbers are below the same period of 2017. Due to the aggressive export understanding of the Turkish companies, even the importation of the Portuguese textile producers in textile and knitwear exports growing in double digits in recent years has dropped 7 percent for the first time in May 2018. "
‘There Are Turkish Stores in Every Shopping Mall”
Complaining from the garment stores opened by the Turkish companies in the local market in Morocco, Head of the Innovation Department of AMITH, Said Benabdeljalil stated that: "LC Waikiki opened 34 stores in Morocco. Three-year rent was paid in cash for a 800-square-meter shop previously used by Mango. Currently, almost in all of the shopping centers opened in Morocco, Turkish firms find their place. Moroccan firms are not able to compete fairly with the Turkish companies."
