Morocco imported 103,000 tons of dates from October 2023 to March 2024, surpassing the average import over the entire last three seasons.
However, it is expected that the total results for this season in Morocco will still be slightly lower than the previous season, indicating a slight decline in imports during the April to September period.
The reason for this expected decline is the increased local date production in the kingdom, which rose by 7% in 2023, reaching 115,000 tons according to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture.
According to an analysis by East Fruit, date imports in the country typically peak around Ramadan, with the highest volumes just before and during the holy month.
Interestingly, in the 2023/24 season, this peak was already reached earlier in February, suggesting that the rest of the season will likely see lower import volumes compared to the previous year.
It is noteworthy that Morocco is the second-largest importer of dates globally, with 90% of date imports coming from the UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria this season, thanks to the active growth in total exports.
East Fruit expects Egypt to surpass the UAE in exports to Morocco. Egypt set a record for date exports to Morocco in the 2022/23 season, and even with a few months remaining, the exporter has already exceeded this record by exporting 33,000 tons of dates to the kingdom.
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