Morocco has overtaken the Netherlands and Spain as the leading supplier of tomatoes to the UK. It has also become the second-largest supplier of tomatoes to the EU, surpassing Italy. As far as Spanish cultivation goes, experts claim the key to the survival of the Spanish sector is not to produce more but to produce better.
In recent years, the tomato crop has lost a large number of hectares of production in Spain. The main reason for this is the growing competition from Morocco, which is increasing its volume of exports to the EU, the main destination for Spanish tomato sales. Morocco has multiplied its area of greenhouse tomatoes. While ten years ago it had 5,500 hectares, today it has almost 14,000 hectares, this means that, in a decade, it has almost tripled the extension of tomato greenhouses.
In 2022, the volume of tomatoes exported by Morocco to the EU stood at almost 75% of the total, the same as in value. Morocco exported 740,661 tons of tomatoes last year, of which 557,605 tons reached the European market. A decade ago, its export capacity was 61.7% lower.
European trade organizations have long been asking the European Commission to review its import regulations for tomatoes from Morocco, as growing imports of low-priced tomatoes are a concern for leading export nations like Spain and the Netherlands.
Source: fpcfreshtalkdaily.co.uk