Rabat – Around 46% of Spain’s vegetables come from Morocco, new data from Informa’s DBK Sector Observatory has confirmed.
Citing the data, the agriculture-focused website FreshPlaza reported that Spanish imports of fruit and vegetables stood at 3,523 million in 2022, indicating a 12.8% increase compared to the previous year.
“20% of the fruits and 46% of the vegetables imported came from Morocco,” FreshPlaza said.
Morocco is one of the largest exporters of a number of agricultural goods to the EU, the UK, and Spain, notably vegetables and fruits.
Some of the products widely exported to the EU, including Spain from Morocco are tomatoes.
Tomatoes are among the most widely imported Moroccan products in Europe, with recent data from FreshPlaza indicating that Morocco almost overtook Spain in tomato exports to the EU between 2018 and 2022. In particular, the North African country’s exports to the EU increased by 38% in the first 10 of 2022.
Data confirming Morocco’s large exports of vegetables and fruits to the EU come amid national concerns about inflations and soaring prices of food products.
Prices of vegetables and fruits skyrocketed recently in Morocco, with the country’s government blaming lack of rainfall and other climate challenges.
Faced with this situation, the Moroccan government has pledged to implement a number of measures to tackle the shortage of vegetables in markets across Morocco, including the halting of exports to maintain a balance in national supply.
Fatiha Charrat, deputy managing director for Moroccan fresh produce exporter Delassus Group, told FreshPlaza earlier this month that tomato shortages will continue in Morocco until mid-May.
She acknowledged that most of the Moroccan-produced tomatoes were exported, which affected the national market.
“Tomatoes accounted for 50% of Morocco’s fresh produce exports,” Charrat said, noting that Morocco’s exports of fruits and vegetables recorded a 13% increase during the 2021-2022 season compared to the season before.
Source: moroccoworldnews
