p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; color: #6a6b6d}A large tourism sector fuels consumption in a number of food and drink sectors, including soft and alcoholic drinks. Across theregion, any fluctuations in tourism levels have a noticeable impact on the premium alcoholic drinks sector, where the majority ofconsumption can be attributed to affluent tourists. In the food sector, segments that are particularly reliant on the tourist dollarinclude convenience and brand-name products from the US.

North African cuisine contains many elements of African and Mediterranean cultures, with other factors shaping food consumption preference, including trading networks and the region's colonial heritage. Given the prevalence of Islam in the region, pork is marginalised; instead, lamb and fish are widely consumed. Couscous is also part of the staple diet across the region. While governments across the region have traditionally supported consumption through subsidies, Morocco has put an end to these policies in recent years, in a bid to reduce budget shortfalls. For now, food subsidies remain in place in Algeria, although the low oil price environment will continue to constrain government revenues and could result in subsidy cuts over the coming years.

Over the 2012-2017 period, the gross value added (GVA) of the food and beverage manufacturing industry expanded at a slow CAGR of 0.2%. The industry was negatively affected by sluggish overall economic activity, stubbornly high inflation and the depreciation of the Argentine peso against the US dollar, which raised production costs, and, at the same time, reduced households’ disposable incomes. However, the sector – being focused on the production of essential goods – outperformed manufacturing industry as a whole, whose GVA contracted at an annual average rate of 1.1% over the same period.