Morocco’s Fisheries Exports Reached Record $2.7 Billion in 2022

Rabat – Morocco’s fisheries exports reached 883,000 tons, with a record value of MAD 28 billion ($2.7 billion) at the end of 2022.

Fisheries exports rose by an annual average of 13% in volume and 16% in value at the end of 2022, according to Zakia Driouich, Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development, and Water and Forests.

Speaking in an interview with Morocco’s state-owned media MAP, Driouich explained that the increase mainly concerned canned sardines that recorded an annual growth of 9% in volume. Other fisheries products that saw a significant increase include frozen sardines, with an export volume increase of 43%, and fishmeal and oil, with a 36% increase.

The increase in the volume of exports was the direct result of increasing demand abroad on Morocco’s fisheries products. Demand for canned sardines rose by 33%, while demand for frozen sardines increased by 71%, and 93% for fishmeal and fish oil.

Commenting on the positive results, Driouich insisted that “the diversity of the food industry of Morocco has enabled the country to occupy a place of the first rank in world trade in fisheries products.”

Morocco is currently the world’s largest exporter of canned sardines and semi-preserved anchovies and is among the world’s largest exporting countries of octopus.

The kingdom’s base of clients in the fisheries market includes 130 countries, the official specified. “Our main markets are the EU with 58%, Africa with 15%, Europe outside the EU with 9%, America with 9%, and Asia with 6.5%,” Driouich explained

The notable increase in exports is largely thanks to the ministry’s institutional marketing strategy, the official added.