Morocco has been increasing its overall exports of vegetables, and EastFruit suggests paying attention to the rapid growth in Moroccan exports of Brussels sprouts to the UK. Moroccan exporters have managed to develop exports in just a few years from scratch.
As can be seen from the graph, a few years ago Brussels sprouts from Morocco were not supplied to the UK market at all. Moroccan producers managed to establish exports in 2019, but shipments were minimal, as well as a year later. The situation changed radically after “Brexit”, when Britain needed alternative import channels. Morocco sharply increased exports of many vegetables, fruits, and berries to the British market, including a rise in exports of Brussels sprouts.
Since then, imports of Moroccan vegetables into the country have been growing and volumes of supplies have demonstrated a new record every year. Thus, in just three years, the amount of Brussels sprouts brought to Britain from Morocco increased by 10 times. The volume of supplies in 2023 reached 1,600 thousand tons, which brought Morocco $2.2 mln of export revenue. Note that for 2023, data from January to July are taken into account, and since Moroccan Brussels sprouts are exported during this period, respectively, in the current year, the export season is over.
In the list of world importers of Brussels sprouts, the UK ranks 12th (2022). For many years, the main volumes of vegetables were imported into the country from the Netherlands. For example, in 2017, imports from this direction accounted for almost 90% of all imports to the British market. However, subsequently, exports fell annually and in 2022, the share of the Netherlands decreased to 66%.
It should be noted that Britain has reduced imports of vegetables in general over several years. Thus, in 2019, imports of Brussels sprouts were three times as high as in the current year. Moreover, like the Netherlands, almost all exporters reduced supplies to the UK, including South Africa and Spain.
Morocco was an exception in this situation. And since supplies from Morocco increased under conditions of the general negative trend, the share of the North African country in the structure of exports to Britain increased from zero to 56% in five years. But taking into account that Morocco has already completed the export season, and the Netherlands and Spain have not yet, Morocco’s share by the end of the year will be less, and the Netherlands will most likely bypass the North African country in terms of supplies.
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According to the results of 2022, Morocco ranked 5th in the world ranking of exporters of Brussels sprouts. However, this year, the export volumes of this product fell by 42% compared to last year, while revenues did not decrease much and brought $7.6 mln. This is due to the fact that last year most of the supplies went to Mauritania, and that the price per ton of products exported to African countries is usually much lower compared with Europe.
The main buyer of Moroccan Brussels sprouts is the Netherlands, a country that actively exports and re-exports them itself, and in 2023 this product from Morocco was delivered to eight foreign markets. Such countries as Mauritania and Senegal showed a decline in imports from Morocco, while supplies to British markets showed growth. And this is not surprising, since Britain is now the most dynamically developing direction for Moroccan vegetable exports.
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