An American report highlights the potential of the fruit sector in Morocco

Lhe US Department of Agriculture highlighted the potential of Morocco’s fruit sector, noting that the Kingdom’s fruit exports more than doubled between 2016 and 2021, from $729 million to more than $1.5 billion. dollars. This performance makes Morocco the 15th largest fruit exporter in the world, says the US Department of Agriculture in a recent report.

The increase in fruit exports has been facilitated by recent investments in transport infrastructure, which now allow perishable goods to transit from the southern region of the Kingdom to Spain within 48 hours of packaging, notes the same source. .

“Morocco has the largest container port in the Mediterranean and investments have also been made in the construction of a new deep water port in Dakhla in the Sahara region, which should be operational by 2027”, indicates the US department.

Morocco’s fruit exports represent less than 2% of global fruit exports, the report points out, adding that the Kingdom has made “considerable gains” over the past six years amid an overall increase in global demand.

Morocco’s fruit exports accounted for more than a third of its total agricultural exports in 2021, the US department says, adding that this result is the result of substantial gains in blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, which now represent 60% growth in fruit exports since 2016.

The report also shows an almost constant but more modest increase in exports of avocados and watermelons, which also contributed to the expansion of fruit exports, while exports of tangerines and oranges contributed to the overall growth, although they have slipped in the past two years.

The European Union remains the leading market in 2021 for Moroccan fruit exports, representing 70% of exports in value, the report points out, adding that Spain and France are the main destinations for these exports. The United Kingdom replaced Russia as the second market with a share of 10%, while Canada and the United States each represented less than 5%, indicates the same source, which recalls that Morocco is the only country in Africa with which the United States has a free trade agreement.

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