Tunisia's Coffee Market Faces Unprecedented Wave of Counterfeit Products
The Tunisian coffee market is facing an unprecedented wave of counterfeit products, prompting authorities to launch a large-scale control and seizure campaign. The Ministry of Trade has announced the initiation of judicial proceedings against offenders, following the discovery of large quantities of unapproved coffee bearing unknown brands and circulating outside official channels.
According to the ministry, these products, originating from the parallel market, "are not safe and are subject to no sanitary control." The authorities have called on professionals, particularly café owners, to supply themselves exclusively from legal channels, represented by local approved roasting companies.
This alert comes after a sudden and massive spread of unauthorized coffee on the market, a phenomenon described as unprecedented by sector players. Control services have seized the quantities in question, while intensifying surveillance operations across the territory.
A Price Imbalance with Heavy Consequences
The price gap between legally distributed coffee and counterfeit products appears to be one of the main drivers of this crisis. Jasser Ahmar, president of the Coffee Roasters Group within the Confederation of Citizen Enterprises of Tunisia (CONECT), claims that a neighboring country is the source of these illicit flows. "Coffee is being introduced illegally into Tunisia at very low prices, sometimes even lower than its selling price in the producing country," he explains.
He also warns against the health risks associated with these products, whose composition remains unknown, emphasizing that the situation is all the more worrying since these coffees have bypassed parallel circuits to infiltrate authorized businesses and large surfaces, supported by a growing presence on social networks.
On an economic level, the impact is severe. Tunisian approved companies (numbering 286) supply themselves exclusively from the Tunisian Trade Office, the only body authorized to import coffee. However, according to Wafa Attaoui, vice-president of the Coffee Roasters Group, the volumes marketed legally have plummeted, from 2,300-2,500 tons per month to around 900 tons.
This brutal decline has led to the closure of many businesses and weakened the entire sector, while counterfeit coffee now accounts for nearly 60% of the national market. An alarming situation, with lasting economic and health repercussions, placing the fight against counterfeiting at the heart of the authorities' priorities.
