How to import fruit and vegetables from Morocco to the EU

Morocco is one of the European Union’s main suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables. In 2025 around 62% of its fruit and vegetable exports went to the EU, with France, Spain and the Netherlands as the main destinations.

Three things explain it: a winter growing season that mirrors Europe’s, a road connection across the 14 km Strait of Gibraltar, and the EU–Morocco Association Agreement, which gives Moroccan produce preferential access to the EU market.

1. Specification and samples. Product, variety, calibre, packing and labelling are agreed first. For new items we send samples or photos from the packhouse.

2. Order and booking. You confirm pallets and destination and choose the service: space on a weekly shared truck (groupage, by the pallet), a full truck load (FTL) or, for long-haul markets, a mixed reefer container by sea. We book it in the right temperature lane.

3. Packing and export control in Morocco. Produce is packed, pre-cooled and inspected at the loading point (Agadir, Marrakech, Casablanca, Kénitra, Larache or Berkane), with photos and a report per pallet. The Moroccan plant-health authority (ONSSA) issues the phytosanitary certificate, and the export documents are prepared.

4. Transport. Reefer trailers cross the Strait from Tanger Med to Algeciras, or from Nador to Almería or Motril for produce from the north-east, then continue by road to your hub. Containers for long-haul markets leave from Moroccan ports.

5. EU border. The import is declared to customs and the consignment goes through plant-health checks at the border control post, notified in the EU TRACES system (CHED-PP). Conformity with EU marketing standards can also be checked.

6. Delivery. After release, the truck delivers to your market or warehouse. Import VAT is settled according to your country’s rules.

Under the Association Agreement many Moroccan fruits and vegetables enter the EU with reduced or zero duty, in some cases within tariff quotas or seasonal calendars.

Several products, such as tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, clementines and oranges, are also covered by the EU entry price system: if the declared import value is below a reference price, additional duties can apply. Your customs broker confirms the exact regime for each shipment.

All produce must respect EU maximum residue levels for plant-protection products (Regulation (EC) No 396/2005) and EU marketing standards for fresh fruit and vegetables. Retail buyers usually also ask for private standards such as GlobalG.A.P.