In 2022, Morocco became the fourth largest exporter of fresh blueberries in the world, suddenly supplanting the United States, reports the site specializing in horticulture, East Fruit.
In Morocco, the blueberry is the most successful export industry. Last year, exports of blueberries in fresh form totaled 53,000 tons, reports East Fruit. This volume shows an increase of 32.5% compared to the stock of 40,000 tonnes shipped a year earlier. With this new record, the Kingdom overtakes the United States to assert itself as the world’s 4th largest fruit exporter behind Peru (277,000 tons), Chile (105,000 tons) and Spain (87,000 tons).
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Recall that Morocco was the seventh largest exporter of cultivated blueberries in the world in 2017. Its annual exports of this red fruit were then 15,600 tons, that is to say that the Kingdom multiplied them by more than three during for the past five years!
According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the export of blueberries brought in Morocco more than 300 million dollars in 2021.
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What is the recipe for this success? Initially, more than 90% of Moroccan exports were destined for Spain, which re-exported Moroccan blueberries, thus lengthening its sales season. However, Spain’s share of Moroccan exports fell to 36% from 2017 to 2022, and the bulk of exports now go directly to blueberry-consuming countries. The countries of the European Union (EU) represent the main destination for blueberry sales from Morocco, along with the United Kingdom and Norway.
In addition to the EU market, Morocco has relied in recent years on the opening of markets outside Europe. Thus, since 2017, the Kingdom’s total exports of fresh blueberries to countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia have increased 9.5 times to reach 1,900 tons.
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Until 2022, Russia was also an interesting destination for Moroccan blueberry exporters, but due to the invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Moscow and the ensuing economic downturn, Russia no longer imported only 400 tons last year. For comparison, annual exports in 2020-2021 from Morocco to the Russian market were 1,200 to 1,300 tons. Among the most unexpected destinations for the export of Moroccan blueberries, we can note trial deliveries of blueberries to the region considered the birthplace of blueberries, especially North America. In 2022, Canada imported 100 tonnes of fresh blueberries from Morocco and 130 tonnes of Moroccan berries were supplied to the US market in 2021.