10 October 2023
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Government decision thought to have influenced year-on-year decrease.
EXPORTS of ware potatoes from Morocco are at a five-year low, despite the fact that it is increasing other fruit and vegetable products.
Information and analytics platform EastFruit has reported that the Moroccan fresh potato exports have shown a negative trend for several years, with shipments in the 2022/23 period falling to a minimum.
Four years ago, Moroccan potato exporters delivered around 100,000 tons (valued at $26 million) to foreign countries but since then, external sales have been decreasing almost every year by 44% to 48%, while the export revenue has dropped almost five times in a few years, and Morocco moved from 21st place in 2019 to 25th in 2022 in the list of world exporters.
The current season was even worse. For the period from July to June, only 27,900 tons of potatoes were delivered to foreign markets, respectively, with sales bringing the minimum revenue for five years – $5.7 million.
At the same time, the geography of potato supplies from Morocco has expanded significantly. For example, in the MY 2016/17, Moroccan potatoes were delivered to only 24 foreign markets, and today they reach consumers in 44 countries.
Despite the fact that European countries occupy leading positions in the list of world importers of potatoes, the main destinations for such supplies from Morocco are primarily African countries.
Moroccan potato exports to the EU reached their maximum in the MY 2018/19, when Europe faced a severe drought. Moroccan suppliers increased sales to European countries (for example, 22,000 tons of potatoes were delivered from Morocco just to Spain) amidst the emerging deficit. Then, a year later, supplies to European markets decreased significantly and are practically absent today.
In February 2023, the Moroccan government banned the export of potatoes, onions and tomatoes to African countries as part of the fight against rising prices for these products. This decision is felt to have affected foreign trade
Source: EastFruit
