Following a dramatic dip in banana imports in 2022, Morocco’s imports of bananas broke a new record in 2023, when it imported 23,000 tons of foreign bananas, a 33% rise over the previous “disastrous” year, “East Fruit” reported on Thursday.
The 2023 volume of Morocco’s imports of the fruit surpassed the figures in both 2019 and 2020, which had sharply declined due to fewer supplies from Ecuador, bad weather conditions, and the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine that had adversely impacted the world’s economy.
Fruit & Vegetable Market Analyst at East Fruit Yevhen Kuzin said that Morocco “produces up to 350,000 tons of bananas annually, and also imports between 22,000 and 28,000 tons of these fruits from Latin American countries and islands in the Atlantic Ocean that belong to Spain and Portugal.”
To compensate for the lack of bananas from Latin America, Morocco imported bananas from Portugal and Spain. However, volcanic eruptions in Sept. 2021 devastated banana production in the Canary Islands, pushing Morocco to purchase a record 5.2 thousand tons of bananas from Spain and 1.6 thousand tons from Portugal between January and October 2023.
Spain, Portugal, and France are Europe’s major banana producers, even though these fruits are not grown on the European continent. Spain grows bananas on the Canary Islands, France in its overseas departments and collectivities in the Caribbean, and Portugal on the island of Madeira.
The global market for bananas recovered marginally in 2022, but the sector continued to suffer significant issues. In mid-2023, Ecuadorian banana producers faced El Niño’s probable damage to their harvest. Producers also had to spend more money each year to prevent the development of the TR4 disease, a blight which has the potential to wipe out banana crops.