Morocco Continues Importing Algerian Dates Despite Health Concerns

According to the "East-Fruit" platform, 90% of Morocco’s date imports come from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. In terms of volumes exported to Morocco, the United Arab Emirates come first, followed by Egypt, which exported 33,000 tons of dates to the Moroccan market between October 2023 and March 2024.

Despite tensions with Algeria, Morocco has continued to import dates from this neighboring country. In February, just before the Ramadan month this year, calls to boycott Algerian dates were launched on social media due to rumors about the contamination of these products by carcinogenic substances.

The National Office of Food Safety (ONSSA) had indicated at the time that the information concerning the quality of Algerian dates is not verified, reassuring that all fruits and vegetables imported by Morocco are subject to meticulous control by its services.

Morocco is the second largest importer of dates in the world after India. Between October 2023 and March 2024, the kingdom imported 103,000 tons of dates, roughly equivalent to its imports during the previous season and more than the average imports over the three seasons preceding the 2022-2023 season.