Morocco's 2022 fresh strawberry exports broke all previous records

Hespress ENFriday 10 March 2023 - 09:14

Morocco’s fresh strawberry exports in 2022 broke all prior records, as the country shipped out 22,400 tonnes, 17% more than in 2021 and approximately 1,000 tonnes more than the previous high point in 2019.

Fresh strawberry exports from Morocco have climbed yearly since 2017 by an average of 3%, according to East Fruit, an information and analytics platform for the expansion of the horticulture industry.

In 2017, Spain accounted for more than three-quarters of all Moroccan fresh strawberry exports; five years later, that percentage had decreased to just over 20%.

Throughout this time, the proportion of Middle Eastern consumers in the composition of Moroccan exports rose from less than 0.5 to 8%.

“Spain is one of the key investors in Moroccan agribusiness, and strawberry cultivation projects in Morocco were originally focused on deliveries to this country,” said East Fruit, explaining that this allows Spanish exporters to extend their export season because the peak supplies of fresh strawberries in Spain is in March-April, and in Morocco – in January-February.

“At the same time, Moroccan exporters, trading through Spain, lost a large part of the revenue they would have received from direct exports,” added the same source.

About half of the Moroccan strawberry exports in 2022 were to the United Kingdom.

It should be highlighted that Brexit, which once made it very difficult for EU countries to transport goods to the British market, helped the UK become a leader in strawberry imports.

Another significant development in Moroccan exports over the past few years has been a strong rise in supplies to the Middle East.

Morocco shipped only 56 tones of fresh strawberries to this region in 2017, but in 2022, it exported 1 700 tones.

The main consumers were the UAE and Qatar (900 and 630 tonnes), however, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait also received smaller quantities.

Earlier this week, East Fruit announced that Moroccan exports of frozen raspberries have more than doubled in volume, despite the market being in a state of shock from the sharp price decline.