Bell peppers are among the top categories of exports in Morocco as well as the second most revenue from exports, after tomatoes.
Morocco due to its climate that is favorable and well-developed infrastructure for agriculture, has seen rapid growth in its greenhouse industry. Morocco is home to the biggest area covered by greenhouses of Africa and is among the leaders worldwide in this in that.
In the past, Moroccan exports of bell peppers are annually increasing and grew to 45% in the last five years. This means that in the year 2022 Morocco was ranked as sixth on the world ranking of the most prolific bell pepper exporters, as well Moroccan exports were higher than Turkish ones.
The cultivation of vegetables on protected soil provides Moroccan farmers to cultivate bell peppers throughout the year and therefore, ensures the ability to sell all year round in export. The peak of exports is usually in January and March however, during the first quarter of 2023 Moroccan exporters have sold 56,000 tons of bell peppers. That makes for a very good beginning of the year’s campaign.
Like other vegetables like other vegetable segments, the Moroccan bell peppers exports are primarily at European buyers.
Spain along with France are the major producers of bell peppers coming from Morocco and France, with their combined proportion reaching 65percent. Morocco has also been the top exporter of bell-peppers to Spain and comes in second place after Spain in the top suppliers of France. Morocco is a major exporter to Germany as well as the Netherlands which rank fourth and third on their lists of suppliers.
While the majority of them go towards Europe, Moroccan bell peppers are also being imported into African nations. As of 2022, nearly 11,000 tons of Moroccan bell peppers were transported to Mauritania as well as Morocco proved to be its largest source of the vegetables.
The rapid growth in Moroccan bell peppers exports into the UK is also worth mentioning.
The UK is only 2percent of Morocco’s exports to bell peppers However, shipments have seen a rapid increase. Within the last two years Morocco has increased exports of bell peppers and other spices to UK by 10 times because of the Brexit and the aftermath of it and has left the UK market in a dire requirement to look for suppliers outside of the EU.
Source: EastFruit