The Moroccan soft fruit sector has experienced rapid growth in recent years. The country has positioned itself among the world's largest suppliers of raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. This growth has gone hand in hand with the success of companies like iBerry, which more than a decade ago decided to specialize in fruits that are now experiencing truly attractive market conditions. In the case of blueberries, growth has been exponential during this period.

iBerry is a cooperative founded in 2013 by six agricultural producers and engineers who had previously worked with a Spanish company in Morocco for over twenty years. Following the acquisition of the company by a multinational and a radical change in the working model, these producers, with extensive experience in berry cultivation, decided to undertake their own project, which, in addition to production, included marketing, and thus the company was born, he says. Mouhssine Ismaili, general director of iBerry.

"We started working with an English company that had exclusive rights to market our fruit in Europe and the United Kingdom, but after seven years, we went our own way and have since marketed our fruit directly throughout Europe," he explains.

"One thing that helped us a lot was the working model of European supermarkets, which prefer to work directly with the producing companies, eliminating intermediaries and thus providing added value and allowing producers to obtain higher margins," says Mouhssine.

This has allowed us to become direct suppliers to renowned supermarkets in the United Kingdom and Europe. We have our own sales team in the United Kingdom and, in the rest of Europe, partners with whom we have forged long-term business relationships based on commitment, trust, transparency, and honesty. We have distribution partners in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, but also partners in other equally important fields, such as varietal development, he states.

“In fact, we have exclusive rights to the major breeding programs of our European partners, such as the Spanish breeder Berries del Oeste, which granted us exclusive rights to produce its Arwen variety in Morocco.

“In our search for a variety suitable for the fresh, domestic, and frozen export markets, we found Arwen.”

iBerry has extensive production areas in Larache, Agadir, and Moulay Bousselham, where it has a large experimental farm for new varieties and cultivation techniques.

“Blueberries have become our main crop, accounting for around 70% of our production, but iBerry initially focused on strawberry cultivation, something we continue to do today,” says Mouhssine. “Morocco offers ideal conditions for berry cultivation, including the climate, giving us a very attractive production window, and we are also close to the European market. Therefore, when it comes to strawberry cultivation, our strategy is based on offering quality early fruit.”

"Working with potted plants, our export window runs from approximately December 15th until the end of March. From then on, when Spain enters the European market with larger volumes and very competitive prices, we target the domestic market, where strawberry consumption is also strong, and the frozen food industry," explains Mouhssine.

This balance between the fresh export market, the domestic market, and the frozen market always leads us to seek varieties with the right characteristics: long shelf life, high Brix degrees, and good flavor, as well as the intense color necessary for freezing. It's not easy to find a variety that meets all these requirements, but with Arwen, we've achieved it. It's a variety that offers us a great balance between fresh and frozen, and is highly appreciated in both the export and domestic markets," he states. "Furthermore, this year, with the abundant rainfall in Morocco in both March and April, we have confirmed its great resistance to fungal diseases, which has allowed us to stand out once again."

To participate and learn more details about the XXXVIII Morocco Seminar 2025 enter the following link: XXXVIII International Seminar on Red Fruits

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