Moroccan fruit and veg exports to Canada up for 4th year in a row

“Morocco boosts its fruit and vegetable exports to Canada for the fourth consecutive year, EastFruit reveals. The Moroccan export of this produce to the Canadian market grew by 14% in tons and by 33% in US dollars every year from 2018 to 2023!

Moroccan exporters shipped almost 94 thousand tons of fresh, frozen, and dried fruits and vegetables to Canada in 2023, worth $95 million. This is a remarkable increase from four years ago, when they only delivered 56 thousand tons and $30 million worth of produce. The export to the Canadian market also rose by 15% in volume and by 20% in value last year.

Mandarins dominated the Moroccan export to the Canadian market, accounting for 83% of the total weight. Oranges followed with 12%, and the rest included frozen fruits and vegetables, fresh blueberries, lemons, grapefruits, and some other items.

The main driver of the Moroccan export growth to the Canadian market was the surge in mandarin shipments, which jumped by 29% to 78 thousand tons. On the other hand, sales of oranges and frozen strawberries dropped by 11 thousand tons and 5.1 thousand tons respectively. Another noteworthy fact was the increase in Moroccan blueberry deliveries in 2023, although it did not have a significant impact on the final Moroccan export.

Canada is one of the world’s largest consumers of fruit and vegetable products. It ranks ninth and twelfth in the world in terms of importing mandarins and oranges respectively. It is also the fifth largest buyer of frozen garden strawberries and fresh blueberries in the world.

Morocco is the top supplier of mandarins to Canada, providing about a third of all the imports of these fruits that enter the Canadian market. In the orange segment, Moroccan exporters came fourth in the ranking of suppliers to the Canadian market last year, but their share was much lower (about 7%). As for frozen strawberries, Morocco was the fifth largest supplier.”

*This article is excerpted from freshplaza.com website, published 7th March 2024