Morocco restored its banana imports in 2023 after a significant slump in the previous year, reports EastFruit. By August 2023, Morocco has already imported more bananas than in the whole of 2022, when the global trade of this product faced a severe crisis due to natural disasters, adverse weather conditions and the geopolitical tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Morocco is not a major producer or exporter of bananas, although locally grown products still dominate the Moroccan market. The country produces up to 350 thousand tons of bananas annually, and also imports between 22 and 28 thousand tons of these fruits from Latin American countries and islands in the Atlantic Ocean that belong to Spain and Portugal,” comments Yevhen Kuzin, Fruit & Vegetable Market Analyst at EastFruit.
In January-October 2023, i.e. in its first ten months, Morocco imported 23 thousand tons of bananas, which is a 33% increase compared to the entire disappointing year of 2022. This volume also surpasses the figures of 2019 and 2020 and indicates a potential record-breaking outcome for 2023.
It is worth noting that the overall decline in banana imports to Morocco in 2022 was mainly driven by a sharp drop in supplies from Ecuador, which plummeted by more than 40% to 8.8 thousand tons. A year later, however, the Ecuadorian banana exports to Morocco recovered just partially, and some volumes were replaced by fruits from European countries that achieved record supplies to the Moroccan market in 2023.
“Moroccan importers compensated for the shortage of bananas from Latin America by sourcing fruits from Portugal and Spain. However, in the case of the latter, this only happened in 2023, as the banana plantations in the Canary Islands had been damaged by a volcanic eruption in September 2021. As a result, Morocco imported a record 5.2 thousand tons of bananas from Spain and a record 1.6 thousand tons from Portugal in January-October 2023,” continues Yevhen Kuzin.
It should also be noted that Spain, Portugal, and France make up the trio of the largest producers of bananas in Europe, although these fruits are not grown on the European mainland. Spain produces bananas in the Canary Islands, France in the overseas departments and collectivities in the Caribbean, and Portugal on the island of Madeira.
For more information: east-fruit.com