Rabat – With a 3,500-kilometer-long coastline, Morocco produces half of all canned sardines available in supermarkets worldwide.
Mehdi Dhaloomal, Executive Manager of Moroccan canned sardine producer MIDAV, recently reported that the North African country annually produces 1.4 million tonnes of seafood, with sardines making up 850,000 of the collected seafood.
The Moroccan businessman stressed that Morocco has “exclusive” access to the sardina pilchardus walbaum which is a type of sardine that is only available in Bretagne, France, and southern Morocco.
Morocco notably fishes 60% of the sardina pilchardus walbaum that is primarily directed to exports – 90% of local sardines are exported.
Earlier this year, the Moroccan Ministry of Fisheries stated that canned sardines represented 53% of total seafood exports in 2021.
Besides sardines, frozen octopus and squid as well as fishmeal represent most of the 778,000 tonnes of Moroccan exported seafood, valued at MAD 24.2 billion ($2.46 billion).
Yet canned sardines remain a major food export of Morocco and Dhaloomal considers the country to be a “leader in the valorization” of sardines.
He further noted that the canned food sector in Morocco consists of roughly 50 Moroccan and international companies that are based along the country’s coastline.
Currently, the industrial zone of Sali delivers 30% of Moroccan production of sardines that is primarily exported to 100 countries. Export destinations include European countries such as the United Kingdom market, where 60% of consumed canned sardines come from Morocco.
Dhaloomal shared the prior statements at the first edition of the Safi Investor Day. The May 25 event gathered Moroccan and foreign investors operating or interested in the Marrakech-Safi region with the objective of celebrating the region and its assets, as well as attracting additional Moroccan and foreign capital.
