Morocco’s boycott campaign did harm to Danone’s profits and sales in 2018

The viral boycott campaign launched online by Moroccans in 2018 has affected the profits and sales of the French multinational food-products corporation Danone, reports AFP quoting a statement by the firm.

On Tuesday, Danone announced that its net profit decreased by 4.1 percent to 2.35 billion euros in 2018. Meanwhile, the company’s sales fell by 2.1 percent in the last three months of last year, «driven by a 35 percent plunge in Morocco», wrote the same source.

The Moroccan boycott’s impact «on total net sales was a decrease of -178 million euros (-$201 million) versus 2017 net sales, of which around two thirds come from losses in milk sales, and one third from losses in dairy products», said the French giant.

Speaking in a conference, Danone’s chief financial officer Cecile Cabanis explained that «there was still a market share for Danone's products in Morocco, but [she] did not expect to return to growth there before the end of 2019».

For the record, in April 2018, Moroccans launched a boycott campaign to protest against the high cost of living. Boycotters targeted three major companies, including the country’s leading fuel distributor Afriquia SMDC, the French company’s Moroccan subsidiary (Central Danone), and mineral water company Oulmes which both issued profit warnings, impacted by the viral campaign.