Seed potato import Morocco reaches five-year high

Morocco has a well-organized potato production structure but relies on imports of seed potatoes for it, as reported by EastFruit. Imports of seed potatoes had been growing in Morocco and reached their at least five-year high of 60,000 tonnes in the MY 2022/23!

Considering rather large volumes of local production of ware potatoes (it reached record high of 1,64 mln tonnes in 2021), it is not surprising that the demand for high-quality seed potatoes in rather high in Morocco. Thus, Moroccan importers continue to increase imports of seed potatoes, with the season lasting from October to May and peaking in winter.

In Morocco, seed potatoes are the second after dates most imported category of fruits and vegetables in volumes and the fifth in the value terms. In the MY 2022/23, Morocco spent more than USD 40 mln on imports of seed potatoes.

As regards ware potatoes, Morocco is a net exporter of them, with their exports totaling 54,000 tonnes in 2022.
 However, as previously reported by EastFruit, Morocco faced the most severe drought over the past three decades in summer 2022, which negatively affected production. Weather abnormalities have presumably affected exports of Moroccan potatoes, which fell almost to zero in 2023.

Drought and a fall in potato production stimulated local growers to increase imports of seed potatoes, and they reached record high in the MY 2022/23.
 Seed potatoes are shipped to Morocco mostly from the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark, and France, with the Dutch suppliers accounting for the largest part of the Moroccan market.

As regards other suppliers, their shares were quite stable, with Denmark as an exception: imports of Danish seed potatoes have tripled since the MY 2017/18.