Morocco has overtaken the Netherlands and Spain as the largest supplier of tomatoes to the UK. Morocco has become the second largest supplier of tomatoes to the European Union after Italy, Agroberichten Buitenland writes. Production capacity and competitiveness are expected to recover in the Netherlands. For the Spanish sector, recovery is sought not so much in additional production but in improving cultivation.
Spanish tomato growers want to sign agreements with plant breeders, marketing companies, and retailers to sell their products on an exclusive basis. In recent years, tomato growing in Spain has lost production area. The main reason for this is growing competition from Morocco, which is increasingly exporting to the European Union. Morocco has almost tripled the area under chest tomatoes to almost 14,000 hectares over a period of about 10 years.
Data on tomato cultivation in Spain, the Netherlands, and Morocco
In 2022, Morocco exported 740,661 tonnes of tomatoes, of which 557,605 tonnes reached the European market. Historically, by country, France has been the main buyer of Moroccan tomatoes, followed by the UK, Spain, and Russia. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the Netherlands has also become an important destination.
Morocco has become the largest exporter of tomatoes to the UK, ahead of the Netherlands. European trade organizations have long been asking the European Commission to review the import rules for tomatoes from Morocco, as the growing import of low-priced tomatoes is a concern for leading exporting countries such as Spain and the Netherlands.
Source: Agroberichten Buitenland