According to EastFruit, Morocco's direct shipments of fresh and frozen produce to Germany soared to unprecedented levels from January to March 2024. This surge was particularly notable in the export of greenhouse tomatoes, sweet peppers, frozen raspberries, fresh blueberries, among other products.
During the initial three months of 2024, Morocco dispatched nearly 35,000 tons of fresh and frozen vegetables, fruits, and berries directly to Germany. This represents a 40% increase compared to the same period last year and is double the average volume recorded over the past five years. It's important to highlight that Morocco's actual impact on the German fruit and vegetable market may be even more significant, considering that a considerable portion of Moroccan exports are re-exported through Spain or France, thus appearing in statistics as Spanish or French exports.
The direct supply of greenhouse tomatoes from Morocco to Germany for January-March of this year nearly doubled, reaching 13,000 tons, while sweet pepper exports grew by a third to 8,000 tons. The greenhouse sector in the EU has faced a crisis due to rising energy costs, which has significantly boosted the supply of greenhouse vegetables and enhanced the competitiveness of southern suppliers like Morocco and Turkey.
Furthermore, Morocco has substantially increased its export of frozen raspberries to Germany during the specified period – with figures for January-March 2024 hitting 1.7 thousand tons, over four times the amount from the previous year. It's worth noting that the first quarter of this year saw a significant shortage of frozen raspberry stocks in the market, leading to a sharp increase in prices.
Meanwhile, the supply of Moroccan fresh raspberries to the German market has remained consistent at around 2.4 thousand tons. However, the direct export of fresh blueberries experienced growth, reaching 1.2 thousand tons, and sales of fresh strawberries saw a twofold increase to 560 tons
Source: east-fruit.com