Green Med Journal
Today less than 4% of Russia’s fruit and vegetables imports are from Morocco. But things could improve in a close future: in fact a Russian delegation visited Morocco recently to see citrus plantations.
Russia imports more than 8.5 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables annually. Although Moroccan fruit and vegetable exports to Russia have registered a rise in recent times, exports is only 3.6% of the market share. Citrusis the most important product with 92% of the market share. Tomatoes represent 7% and the rest is made up of various vegetables.
But there are new perspectives for the Moroccan export to Russia. Recently a Russian delegation visited Morocco – Freshplaza reports – to view the route the citrus follows and mainly to view the phyto-sanitary checks.Morocco has some significant benefits when it comes to fruit imports: it ensures a special customs duty of 4.59% for citrus fruit and 16.62% for tomatoes. However the refusals of custom clearance are numerous and the costs of waiting times for ships and the deterioration of the quality of the products.Also, a problem is represented by the level of sanitary and phyto sanitary norms. These have become stricter in the past few years, but aren’t enforced as strictly in all the countries that export to Russia. So the position of competing countries compared to Morocco has become stronger due to this.Morocco does have a checking system, that has been approved by the EVO. But Russia has not yet recognized this and has therefore beeninvited to see the checking system on the site. According to the national bureau for food safety, the delegation was visibly surprised by the level of the system. However the definitive publication report of the Russian delegation remains to be seen.
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