In Rabat, for example, the liter of diesel was around 10.54 dirhams in some distributors, when petrol exceeded 12.61 dirhams.
For El Houssine El Yamani, a union figure in the petroleum sector (CDT), the account is not there. He estimates that this drop is disconnected from recent international prices. By referring to the calculation method before the liberalization of 2015, he affirms that the correct prices would be much lower: “less than 9.09 dirhams for diesel and 10.59 dirhams for petrol”.
Read: fuels in Morocco: Moroccans trapped?
The trade unionist does not hesitate to speak of “illegitimate profits” and points to the beneficiary margins of operators who would exceed 20 % in Morocco, a rate much higher than “less than 5 %” observed, according to him, in countries where competition actually works. He also mentions the missed opportunity of Russian oil, often cheaper.
Faced with this criticism, the official Competition Council figures show that the purchase cost represents the largest share of the final price (more than 50 % for diesel, 46 % for petrol). Taxation (ICT and VAT) is the second major post, weighing around 31 % for diesel and 38 % for petrol. The raw distribution margins are around 15 % to 16 %, then distributed between wholesale distributors and the managers of service stations.
