Call to Action Letter for Moroccan Photography Importers

Mehdi Laraqui

05/10/2015

Moroccan photography importer.

Dear photography equipment importer.

Hye My name is Mehdi Laraqui and I’m a student at SFSU and majoring in international business. The reason I’m sending you this letter is for a call to action. Photography is one of my hobbies and I’m really interested in importing photography equipment into Morocco. So I made a research on every aspect of my interest and figured out that this import includes many risks for importers.

Exploring the Risks of Importing Photography Equipment to Morocco: Part 1

Imagine running a photography import business. Everything works great for you. You’re making a lot of money; suddenly you, you buy more than $5000 dollars of camera lenses and it turns out that they were all damaged. Couple of accidents like this and you might go out of business. Import business is in fact a risky domain but that generates a lot of revenue. In Morocco for example, Import business generates $43.5B for its economy, and that’s about 45% of its GDP, as shown by atlas.media.mit.edu.

Exploring the Risks of Importing Photography Equipment to Morocco: Part 2

Who protects the equipment from physical damage or loss?

As we all know, insurance is the best way to protect form physical damage. And import export transaction should always include a third party, which is the insurance company. Moreover, this protects the goods separately from the contracts that the seller had signed with the buyer.

In fact, Insurance companies, as you might all know have their own contracts signed by the person who pays for it. There are in fact two ways to get insurance for the equipment in transit. Either the seller agrees to pay for it, or it is the buyer who does so. In either case, it should be written in the contract which party is taking the responsibility of paying for the insurance.

Exploring the Risks of Importing Photography Equipment to Morocco: Part 3

What about risk of payments?

Guess what, there are even more risks regarding importing business. I’m talking about payment time and method. Imagine the importer received all the goods in perfect condition; everything went just great. But he still has to pay for it now, if he didn’t pay before the shipment of course. There is a risk of what it’s called a currency fluctuation. This is basically the risk of the change of the currency value. As Surendran Kollerath explains in his article “Foreign Exchange Fluctuation Risks in Export Import Trade”, it is very important to decide with the seller in what currency should the price be paid.

Exploring the Risks of Importing Photography Equipment to Morocco: Part 4

What about when the Photography equipment arrives to the port?

As I already mentioned, some importers can get their merchandise covered by insurance during the whole process until they get it in their storage place. But does that guarantee the merchandise will pass the borders without any problem? In reality it does not. This is actually a total different risk that should really be taken in consideration.

The import cost of merchandise to Morocco.

When we think of import and export business, we also think of shipping and customs, and they mean extra costs. That means an extra cost other then customs. The first step to import something to a country in general is to locate the product, get all the information on the legality of the import of that product, and then start the process of the order. The time of the process depends on the importing and the exporting country, how far they are from each other, and how much paperwork each one has to process these kinds of transactions.

The Moroccan government limits photography equipment by banning drones in the kingdom.

If you’re reading this post then for sure you like photography. But have you ever considered taking it to the next level and shoot photos from the sky? well that what photography drones are made for. lets take a quick look at a knew law that was made in Morocco regarding these drones. 

International Free Trade Agreements

International Trade

trade agreement guarantees the stability between countries that are concerned. it helps import businesses a lot International trade is very important in every international business of any kind. No matter what product or service is important or exported, free trade agreements a country has with other countries has a big influence on all the aspects of the transaction, the price, the shipping, and costume taxes for example. Morocco made couple free trade with other countries and that include, as stated in Economy watch, “the European free trade agreement, and the objective of this trade was to integrate the European agreement, The Agadir Agreement, which was signed with Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, within the framework of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, The US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement came into force on January 1, 2006, and The agreement with Turkey for free exchange.”

Moroccan import Regulations

Morocco and its Import System 

respecting local regulations is one of the most importing things to consider by an import business owner. The kingdom of Morocco is one of the new Emerging economies in Africa. And it is growing more and more with time. When it comes to import Business, the country has many regulations and strict customs. The department of Moroccan customs have in fact a full control on all the good imported to the country for a commercial purpose. Although Morocco suffers from corruption, almost no body can overcome the laws when it comes to importing. Furthermore, Morocco regulates all and every import to make sure none of the banned products gets in the country.

Introduction to the Importing Business

An import business in an opportunity for the owner to bring and sell products (photography equipment) in Morocco were the supply is very limited. As a student in international business, this really interests me. Every business that crosses any border is considered international. Like importing or exporting for example. I also like photography and it is one of my hobbies. As a combination of both, I really like the idea of importing and selling photography equipment to my country.