Morocco’s growing raspberry and blueberry exports are expected to saturate the European market, raising concerns among Spanish farmers, Manager of Freshuelva Rafael Dominguez told FreshPlaza.
“Morocco is increasing its raspberry and blueberry export volumes and they’re selling them at very aggressive prices,” Dominguez said. “The market has been saturated with supply for about two weeks and prices have fallen to low levels [and] we are very worried about the raspberry campaign.”
Dominguez added that Spanish farmers “can’t enter into a price war with this country,” referring to Morocco’s cost-competitive productions driven by lower production and labor costs.
The Freshuelva manager said that the production of raspberries this season in Spain’s Huelva and Morocco “is peaking to the highest point ever” thanks to the warm and sunny weather in the Mediterranean.
However, the area dedicated to growing the crop is decreasing in Spain while Moroccan growers are planting more crops to increase production.
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The growing flow of foreign investments into Morocco’s berry industry is helping the North African country become a major exporter of valuable fruits such as blueberries. By increasing its share in the fruits and particularly in the berries market, Morocco is directly competing with traditional exporters such as Spain, France, and Italy over the EU market.
“Our goal now is to make Europe aware of the value of European products,” Dominguez explained. “The increasing competition from third countries, the increasingly limited availability of water resources, and the lack of manpower are some of the biggest problems that the sector faces.”
With Morocco developing its agriculture infrastructure with the help of the EU and private investments, the Spanish-French-Italian contact group expects to address the Moroccan competition at their next meeting.
Despite facing severe droughts and reaching alarming water stress levels, Moroccan agriculture policies continue to support the production of water-intensive crops such as blueberries, citrus, and tomatoes with most of the production directed to export markets such as the EU and the UK.
In 2021, Morocco became the 15th-largest fruit exporter in the world by value, according to a recent USDA report cited by FreshPlaza.
The country’s fruit exports doubled from $729 million (MAD 7.8 billion) in 2016 to $1.5 billion (MAD 16 billion) in 2021 due to a surge in berry production. Last year, Morocco exported more than 40,000 tonnes of blueberries, 85,000 tonnes of strawberries, and 40,000 tonnes of raspberries.
SOURCE: Morocco news
