Morocco’s cucumber exports to the Portuguese market set a new record this season following the unprecedented drought that affected the European continent in 2022, leading to an increase in exports of fruits and vegetables from Morocco, according to the latest figures provided on Friday 22, 2023 by EastFruit.
According to the same source, the exports of Moroccan cucumber have been on a steady rise since 2017, and It’s been three seasons now that local growers managed to increase the shipments of Morocco’s cucumber to foreign markets, and the imports of the vegetables into Portugal is also on the rise.
Over the course of four years now, cucumber shipments from Morocco to the Portuguese market grew 17 times, reaching over 2,000 tons in the 2022/23 season.
In the 2022/23 season, the cucumbers that were exported to Portugal brought in profits of 2.3 million dollars for Morocco.
The pressing demand to increase cumber imports for the Portugal markets is driven by the severe drought that hit Southern Europe. As a result, Portugal was forced to raise vegetable shipments from other countries, with Spain and Morocco being the main providers.
EastFruit mentioned that in the 2022/23 season, 7,700 tons of cucumbers were brought into Portugal, with Spain accounting for two-thirds of the shipments received from 6 countries, and Morocco accounting for one-fourth.
Since the unprecedented drought hit severely the Southern European countries, the shipments of Spanish cucumbers were also affected, which led to re-exports of Moroccan cucumbers.
Morocco exported cucumbers to 32 countries in the 2022/23 season, where a staggering 21,400 tons of cucumber brought in 19$ million in export revenue.
Moroccan cucumber shipments to the Portuguese market have been in a notable increase, with a tenfold rise over the last five years.
Experts are expecting that cucumber exports from Morocco will surge again next year as Southern Europe will be suffering from an even worse drought this year.