Morocco has received its first shipment of salted pork sausage casings from Russia, according to Russia’s farm safety agency, Rosselkhoznadzor.
The agency said 22.2 tons of pork intestines were sent on 16 February from a company in Russia’s Kursk region. Officials there supervised the shipment and confirmed it met Morocco’s import rules. The products were tested in state-approved laboratories and cleared as safe before being exported.
The Russian company is already allowed to export meat to countries in the Gulf and the Eurasian Economic Union. In 2025, it shipped more than 17,000 tons of meat products to countries including Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Ghana, Georgia, Mongolia and Serbia.
Morocco is a Muslim-majority country where pork is not widely consumed. However, pork products can be imported and sold under strict rules. Demand mainly comes from the tourism sector, foreign residents and some industrial uses.
Natural pork casings are commonly used to make sausages. They are popular because they are strong but thin, giving sausages a firm bite. They also let air and smoke pass through, which is important for smoked and cured meats.
Hotels and resorts in cities such as Marrakech and Agadir serve large numbers of European and North American tourists. Many offer international breakfast and lunch options that include pork products. There is also steady demand from foreign residents, especially from France, Spain and Italy.
Pork intestines are not only used for food. They are also used in medicine. Pig tissue is used to make collagen for wound treatment and to produce heparin, a widely used blood thinner.
For Russian producers, exporting these products helps them make money from parts of the animal that might otherwise have lower value at home.
Trade data for 2024 and 2025 show that Morocco mainly imports sausage casings from Russia and Spain. Processed pork products such as ham and deli meats mostly come from Italy and France, while frozen pork cuts are mainly imported from Spain and Brazil.
