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Some people's views of contraband

It is hard to expect Marocain citizens to give up consuming contraband products- despite their often outrageous prices and uncertain validity – without providing an alternative for the profiteer, trader, consumer, middleman, etc. That alternative is necessary in order not to destroy contraband traders’ social and economic status. Ending smuggling cannot be an immediate action, and can be achieved only via a gradual process.
Contraband in Morocco is a complex and uneven process although smuggling is a common and widespread dynamic. Moroccan cities are replete with big stores trading freely and round the clock in contraband brands. Worse, many cities named some of their markets after other markets known for their contraband transactions such as “Tantan Market” and “Sebta-Fnidek Market”. With this we are facing a concrete reality: forbidden commodities flowing with total permission. The state’s cautious measures to restrict this phenomenon and push ahead national production remain dull and unconvincing.
We have interviewed some traders, importers and consumers to get their opinions about smuggled goods.

Mr. AR, a middle trader, says that people like him encounter a lot of trouble because of the baffling official attitude towards their business activities. He expresses his indignation and protests over the fact that “though contraband products are openly bought in Moroccan territories and in Moroccan currency they suddenly become forbidden as soon as they are packed”. This inexplicable situation “victimizes the trader more and more as he/she must pay more taxes than he/she would otherwise do had smuggling been legal”.
The disappointed man goes on to point out that there are four major reasons why people resort to smuggling and take it up as a job: the local loss of confidence in national goods whose quality has become questionable; the highly incompatible relationship between prices and quality; the outrageous rise of prices due to the intervention of middlemen; and finally markets monopolization. On the other hand, such elements as classifying national products, uniting prices, abolishing monopoly, increasing competition with international markets as well as involving the youth in organizing and renewing local trade dynamics constitute the measures M.R believes as “compulsory” to end contraband.

The second interviewee is a woman who has been smuggling for over 20 years. KR describes illegal trading as “lucrative” and “profitable”. She states that because “contraband brands are well preserved and meticulously packaged and because the local demand is high, I could not resist engaging in this business despite its several vices”. For her, the problem resides in the lack of sophistication within the qualitative and technical operations of Moroccan companies; “If national factories manage to improve their services and promote quality, Moroccan citizens will certainly give up consuming illegal commodities and favour their local ones”. She concludes by expressing her “guilt” over being a smuggler and by putting the blame on “our national trade policy” which, according to her, has led to “bankruptcy and lack of quality”.
Following this line of remorse towards “our nation” simultaneously mingled with actual involvement in contraband, S.K, a consumer, affirms that “the poor quality and the state’s inadequate control on local products pushed consumers to seek what is better”. This fact, he maintains, explains Moroccan people’s high preference for foreign goods. He adds, however, that even the latter are sometimes likely to be spoiled when “grasped by some immoral people who change what is inside and keep the same packing”. The consumer, in this case, is easily duped into buying bad products and with the some price. S.K. ends by re-affirming his fascination with contraband goods and their “unquestionable quality”. Nevertheless, being a “big fan and loyal client” of those commodities does not mean his total contempt for local production. He remains always ready to favour national brands provided that “Moroccan companies and stores reconsider and reassess themselves as well as respect and valorize the position of local consumers through offering good and healthy products.” In short, they should follow the example of their international counterparts.

These views were introduced in this paper so as to alert and prompt local decision–making authorities to take the right decisions to abolish contraband, which harms more than helps Morocco and its citizens.

Translated by Nourdine El Guennouni

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