Moroccan citrus, for years a symbol of Morocco’s exporting power, keeps losing ground against competitors from countries like Egypt, Turkey or South Africa.
The newspaper L’Economiste illustrated the issue last Friday with concrete figures. While Morocco’s citrus production volumes (especially oranges and mandarins) have almost doubled in the past five years, reaching 2.2 million tonnes, the percentage devoted to exports has dropped from 40% to 25% during the same period.
Competition has been toughest in the EU market. Orange exports (half of which go to these countries) have dropped by 9% between 2009 and 2012, while mandarin and clementine sales have fallen by around 26%.
Exporters are increasingly more oriented towards the Russian market, where 61% of their mandarins and clementines and 32% of their oranges were shipped in 2013, but the volatility of Russia’s rouble foreshadows significant drops this year.
Additionally, Moroccan citrus are not available in markets such as the Persian Gulf countries, where they prefer Turkish and Egyptian fruit; less vulnerable to climatic seasonality issues.
Source: valenciafruits.com
