Moroccan date production has only reached 112,000 tons this year compared to the record 128,000 tons recorded in 2016. The decrease is due to a lack of rainfall in the production regions. Morocco has over 5 million date trees on 50,000 hectares, placing them 7th worldwide and 3rd in the Maghreb. As part of a programme to restore and restructure Moroccan date palms, they are aiming to plant 3 million more trees by 2020 (Until now 1.8 million have been planted).
Moroccans consume an average of 3.25kg of dates per year, which is high compared to the European consumption (300g/person in France for example), but doesn’t place Morocco amongst the leading date countries.
Morocco is a small date producer compared to neighbouring countries : Algeria has 12% worldwide market share, Tunisia 3% and Egypt is the world leader with 19% market share.