Even closer alignment with the EU and UK for North African exporter
Morocco’s fresh fruit and vegetable sector is well prepared to meet regulatory changes in the European Union and the United Kingdom and become better positioned to make even more use of its various competitive advantages in future.
These are some of the key conclusions of a two-day international workshop that took place in Agadir in mid-September and was hosted by Morocco Foodex, the agency that is part of Morocco’s food and agriculture ministry and responsible for quality control, export coordination, market intelligence, and export promotion.
Agadir is the centre of Morocco’s booming fresh fruit and vegetable sector. Ninety per cent of Moroccan tomatoes, citrus, berries, avocados and more are produced in the Souss region in its hinterland.
The region is also the beneficiary of a huge desalination project, which makes fresh water from the Atlantic Ocean to irrigate more than 15,000 hectares of fertile soils.
The two-day workshop was made up of presentations and field visits. Freshfel Europe’s Philippe Binard and Nigel Jenney of the Fresh Produce Consortium addressed key market and regulatory trends in the EU and UK respectively, Morocco’s key exports markets.
More than 30 expert speakers from the EU and Morocco took part in the day-long workshop. Three round tables that discussed the most important themes that came up through the day were moderated by Fruitnet’s Chris White.
Day Two of the international workshop featured two visits, the first to Maroc Citrus, a government-funded research centre that is developing integrated pest management solutions to combat fruit fly in the Souss region, the second to Duroc’s key sorting and packing facility for its cherry and baby plum tomatoes, of which it is a premier supplier to the EU and the UK.
Separately, White took the opportunity to visit Tanger Med, now the largest port in the whole of Africa.
More than 80 per cent of Morocco’s fresh fruit and vegetable exports now pass through the port, located on the Mediterranean coast and less than two hours from Algeciras in southern Spain.
Tanger Med how handles some 700 trucks of fresh produce every day at peak times, with volumes on target to exceed 130,000 trucks in 2026.
Sophisticated scanners check every load that travels through the port, clearing it in less than two hours for the short journey across the straits of Gibraltar to Algeciras.
More effective logistics has been a game changer for Morocco.
The development of Tanger Med started less than 20 years ago and had benefitted from huge investment from Maersk and Hapag Lloyd in particular.
Its proximity to the European Union as well as big improvements in roads and railways in Morocco have helped underpin Tanger Med rapid growth.
At the same time, fresh fruits and vegetables are also shipped to the UK via a direct service from Agadir.
