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Rabat – Moroccan fresh citrus exports to the United States reached 110,500 metric tonnes in 2021-2022, marking a 156% increase from last season.
Data from the United States Agriculture Department’s (USDA) latest semi-annual report on Moroccan citrus exports show that the US remains the fourth largest importer of Moroccan oranges and tangerines/mandarins.
This season, the European Union (EU) continues to be the leading market for Moroccan citrus exports ahead of Russia, Canada, the US, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East.
The EU notably imported 166,786 metric tonnes (MT) of fresh tangerines/mandarins, marking a 3% growth compared to the previous season, while Russian imports grew by a rate of 18%, importing a total of 173,081 MT. American imports, however, marked the largest growth of 142% to reach 103,239 MT.
For fresh oranges, EU countries topped the list of Moroccan export destinations, recording an annual growth of 51% and a total export volume of 14,662 MT between October 2021 and March 2022.
Canada was the second-largest market for Moroccan oranges, as it welcomed 10,471 MT this season, up from 4,982 MT last year.
Russia was third with 16,638 MT, while the US’s imports of oranges skyrocketed from 382 MT in 2020/21 to 7,226 MT in 2021/22, an increase of 1792%.
However, Moroccan orange exports to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East dropped this season by 18% and 8% respectively to settle at 4,889 MT and 2,148 MT.
Read Also: Morocco’s Food Exports To Post-Brexit UK Have Increased by Almost 40%
The surge in the Moroccan citrus shipments to the United States was a response to high demand from the American market.
The Moroccan investments in fruit packaging technologies and cold treatment infrastructure for shipment and its “experienced record citrus production in MY [market year] 2021/22” also contributed to an increase in citrus exports, USDA added.
However, the rising costs of transportation had burdened the citrus exporters, causing costs to increase up to 150% compared to the last season.
This issue is anticipated to extend to the coming season, with additional concerns concerning payment and shipping problems related to deals with Russia, the second-largest importer of Moroccan fresh citrus.
This year, however, Moroccan citrus shipments to Russia “were not disrupted” by the war in Ukraine, said USDA, as the shipping season was primarily completed prior to the conflict.
