Page 32 - AA 2026

Morocco

Morocco Fruits And Vegetables Market Size

The Moroccan fruits and vegetables Tomato yields inside drip-equipped
market size is projected to expand greenhouses averaged 450 metric
from USD 5.20 billion in 2025 and tons/ha in 2025 versus 180 metric
USD 5.60 billion in 2026 to USD 7.80 tons/ha in open fields, justifying the
billion by 2031, registering a CAGR MAD 80,000/ha (USD 8,000/ha) capi-
of 6.85% between 2026 to 2031. This tal cost. Souss-Massa targets 1 million
expansion reflects Morocco’s shift hectares of drip by 2030 to counter its
from bulk commodity shipments to 100 million m³ annual aquifer over-
specialty crops that obtain premiums draft. Avocado orchards in Gharb
in European retail channels. In 2025, using subsurface drip lines cut fertil-
vegetables represented the major- izer by 30% and secured uniform fruit
ity of the national output. Meanwhile, size that commands a 15% premium
fruit acreage is anticipated to expand at EU retail. However, smallholder
more rapidly as growers prioritize revenue per hectare of cereals, land adoption lags because bank credit
planting blueberries, avocados, and reallocation and foreign investment is scarce, widening the productivity
seedless citrus, which are popular from Chile and the Netherlands con- gap with corporate farms.
among European consumers. Export tinue to accelerate. Contract farming European Union–Morocco Duty-
flows constitute the majority of veg- arrangements guarantee offtake, fur- Free Quota Renewals
etable shipments. Additionally, new ther de-risking orchard expansion for The European Union-Morocco As-
contract farming models are being growers. sociation Agreement keeps 285,000
applied to berries, enabling proces- Growth in Agri-Logistics Infra- metric tons of tomatoes duty-free
sors to secure supply and mitigate structure each year, provided shipment prices
pricing risks. Parallel investments in The EUR 425 million (USD 450 mil- exceed European Union reference
desalination, cold storage, and drip lion) Chtouka desalination plant be- levels. Morocco supplied 573,730
systems are reducing production gan service in 2024 and now sells ir- metric tons of tomatoes in 2024/25,
costs, minimizing post-harvest waste, rigation water at MAD 5.40/m³ (USD paying standard tariffs on the over-
and maintaining a competitive ad- 0.54/m³), roughly half the pre-project quota balance yet still earning EUR
vantage despite water scarcity. cost and thus protects margins amid 1.05 billion (USD 1.12 billion). Duty-
Rising Exports of High-Value energy inflation. Agadir cold storage free citrus quotas of 380,000 metric
Crops capacity expanded 12% in 2025 after tons for oranges and 60,000 metric
Morocco shipped 83,000 metric 18,000 pallet positions came online, tons for clementines hold through
tons of blueberries in 2024, 43% high- pushing berry and stone-fruit losses 2028, giving investors multi-year
er on average each year since 2009, below 10%. Agadir port handled 1.2 certainty. The entry-price safeguard,
pushing the country from seventh to million metric tons of fresh produce however, rewards exporters who
fourth among global suppliers and in 2024, 9% more than in 2023, while deliver during European off-season
giving it 8% of world trade. Blueberry Tangier Med’s new refrigerated ter- months, so firms with controlled-
cultivars timed for early spring fill a minal trimmed transit to Rotterdam environment greenhouses reap the
European supply gap, while proximi- and Marseille by 18 hours. National largest gains. Ongoing renewal talks
ty to European Union markets enables desalination projects scheduled focus on carbon labeling and social
48-hour air freight. Avocado exports through 2030 will deliver 1.7 billion compliance, signaling a move toward
rose to 90,000 metric tons in 2024/25, m³ each year, unlocking 200,000 broader sustainability metrics.
up from 60,000 metric tons the prior hectares for irrigation, mainly along Declining Arable Land per Capita
season, with farm-gate prices stable the coast. These upgrades reduce Urban sprawl removed 12,000
at MAD 19–20/kg (USD 1.90–2.00/ spoilage, alleviate water stress, and hectares of farmland in the Casablan-
kg) in January 2025, according to the anchor investor confidence in the ca–Rabat corridor from 2020 to 2024,
President of the Moroccan Avocado Morocco fruits and vegetables mar- converting orchards into housing and
Association. Tangerine and clem- ket. industrial estates. Per-capita arable
entine shipments hit 500,000 metric Expansion of Drip-Irrigation area slipped to 0.18 hectares in 2024,
tons in 2024/25, a 27% jump driven Acreage down 14% from 2015, as population
by new northern plantings that meet Drip-irrigated land climbed to growth outpaced land access. Soil
Russian and Middle Eastern demand 700,000 hectares in 2024 from 585,000 degradation affects 30% of cropland,
for seedless fruit. Because these hectares in 2020, driven by subsidies shaving yields 10–15% and pushing
crops return three to five times the covering 80% of installation outlays. fertilizer use higher. Average farm
30 Arab Agriculture 2026