Representatives of the tomato sector from France, Spain, and Italy, including FEPEX and the people responsible for their respective administrations, are meeting in Ragusa, Sicily, within the framework of the tomato contact group, to analyze the perspectives of the campaign and the growth of imports from third countries.
The group will evaluate the last season and the perspectives of the current one. They will also analyze the European tomato producers' and export sector's main issues of concern, such as the growth of Moroccan imports, which has been constant in recent years. From 2010 to 2017, the last year for which there are complete statistics available, EU imports of tomatoes grew by 85% totaling 489 million euro, according to Eurostat data processed by FEPEX. In 2018 and with data up to November, Community tomato imports from Morocco grew by 5% in relation to the same period of 2017, totaling 439.5 million euro.
In the Spanish market the situation is similar. Tomatoes imports from Morocco increased by 183% between 2010 and 2017 and 20% in the period from January to November 2018, when compared to the same months of 2017.
In 2018 Spanish tomato exports stood at 812,571 tons, i.e. 0.3% more than in 2017 while their value decreased by 7.5% and amounted to 927.1 million euro, due to the decline in value in the main destination markets, especially Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The EU was the destination of 98% of Spanish sales. The value of Spanish tomato exports to Germany stood at 252 million euro, 12% less than in 2017. The value obtained in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands decreased by 10% less than in 2017, in both cases, standing at 121.5 and 106.7 million euro, respectively. Meanwhile, exports to France, the second biggest market for Spanish tomato, grew by 4%, totaling 129.4 million euro, according to data from the General Directorate of Customs processed by FEPEX.
Source: fepex.es
