Moroccan exports of brussels sprouts to the UK alone have skyrocketed exponentially in the past five years, going from near-negligible in 2018 to in excess of 1,600 thousand tons in 2023–a tenfold increase—with an accrual of 2.1 million dollars cumulatively through this past July, according to an East Fruit report today.
The graphs presented by East Fruit show that the export of this vegetable hit its peak in May 2023, and since then, it has experienced a bit of a recession.
Morocco has gone from supplying none to 56% of Britain’s total brussels sprout imports in only five years, notwithstanding the general negative trend.
However, because Morocco has already finished the export season while the Netherlands and Spain have not, Morocco’s share will end up lower at the end of the year, and the Netherlands will most likely leapfrog the North African country in terms of supply.
Morocco was placed fifth in the world ranking of brussels sprout exporters in 2022, according to the statistics.
This year’s export volumes plummeted by 42% compared to the previous year, while revenues remained relatively stable at 7.6 million dollars. This is because the majority of supply went to Mauritania last year, and the price per ton of items shipped to African nations is often substantially lower than it is to Europe.
The Netherlands actively imports and then proceeds to immediately export this crop of Moroccan origin. It is the primary customer of Moroccan brussels sprouts, as this Moroccan commodity was then promptly re-shipped to eight foreign markets in 2023. Imports from Morocco fell in countries such as Mauritania and Senegal, but supplies to British markets increased.