According to the results of the first eight months of this year, there has been a sharp increase in the imports of dried prunes in Morocco, reports EastFruit. From January to August 2023, the country imported 1.7 thousand tons of this product worth more than 5 million US dollars, while the imports over the past seven consecutive years totaled just 1 thousand tons.
In 2016-2017, imported prunes entered Morocco in relatively small quantities, ranging from 200 to 250 tons. In the following few years, imports from abroad were minimal or practically nonexistent.
They began to gain momentum last year and reached record levels in 2023. Previously imports of dried prunes started growing in summer. In the current year, however, deliveries were carried out continuously from January to August.
Read also: Morocco is close to set an anti-record for orange exports
Spain is the main exporter of dried prunes to Morocco. Spain ranks seventh in the global ranking of suppliers and accounts for more than a half of total imports in Morocco. Dried prunes also reach the Moroccan market from France, Serbia, Bulgaria. In total, for the period from 2016 to 2022, the North African country imported prunes from 16 countries.
In 2023, Morocco’s import geography expanded. For the first time in the last eight years, prunes from Uzbekistan (the third largest world exporter), Moldova (the 12th place in the ranking), Romania, Poland were imported to the Moroccan market. This year, this product was supplied to Morocco from 11 countries.
It should be noted that the production of prunes is well-established in Morocco, and the country actively exports this product. The record of Moroccan sales abroad was registered in 2016, when almost 2 thousand tons of dried prunes were shipped to foreign markets. However, then exports were insignificant, and nowadays the external sales have collapsed to a minimum.
Undoubtedly, the sharp increase in imports along with the decline in exports indicates the emergence of a deficit of prunes in the Moroccan market. Unfortunately, last year Morocco faced the strongest drought in 40 years. The lack of water negatively affected the cultivation of many agricultural crops, including the production of dried plums.
The use of the site materials is free if there is a direct and open for search engines hyperlink to a specific publication of the East-Fruit.com website.
