Morocco shipped nearly 35,000 tons of fresh and frozen vegetables, fruits and berries directly to Germany during the first quarter of 2024, representing a substantial 40% increase over last year and doubling the average volume recorded over the past five years, according to data analytics platform “EastFruit.”
The supply of greenhouse tomatoes from Morocco to Germany during the same period almost doubled, reaching 13,000 tons, while sweet pepper exports grew by a third to 8,000 tons.
The greenhouse sector in the EU has faced a crisis due to rising energy costs, which has led to a significant increase in the cost of greenhouse vegetables and made southern suppliers such as Morocco and Turkey more competitive.
Morocco also substantially increased its exports of frozen raspberries to Germany, reaching 1.7 thousand tons from January to March 2024, more than four times the amount in the previous year.
Despite a shortage of frozen raspberries making them more expensive, the supply of Moroccan fresh raspberries to the German market remained consistent at around 2.4 thousand tons.
Direct exports of fresh blueberries grew to around 1.2 thousand tons, and sales of fresh strawberries saw a twofold increase to 560 tons during the same period.