According to EastFruit, Morocco, one of the world’s primary suppliers of fresh tomatoes, is continuing to increase its vegetable exports. The country has achieved new record figures this season as the shipments of this product to foreign markets increased compared to the previous year.
For the MY 2022/23 (July-June), 716,700 tonnes of Moroccan tomatoes were exported to foreign markets, bringing the country $990 million in export revenue. Over five years, the volume of tomato exports from Morocco has increased by more than 25%, and over a decade, the country has shown the fastest growth rates among the largest exporters of these vegetables.
Undoubtedly, tomatoes remain the top category in Morocco’s foreign trade in fruits and vegetables. They also accounted for the share of about a one third in the overall structure of Moroccan fruit and vegetable exports in the MY 2022/23. Tomatoes are exported year-round, with the peak observed from November to March.
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The geography of tomato sales from Morocco is very diverse. Today, Moroccan exporters export tomatoes to 44 countries! For comparison, six years ago, this list was almost half as long, and these vegetables were supplied to 24 countries.
Moroccan tomato growers mainly focus on buyers from Europe. It should be noted that the North African country has been confidently conquering this market. In Q1 2023, one-third of all tomatoes sold in the EU were imported from Morocco. Recall that this was the first time in history when Morocco sold more tomatoes to the EU than Spain did in the first three months of the year.
France, which ranks third (after the US and Germany) in the world’s tomato importers rating, is the main buyer of Moroccan vegetables. More than half of all exports of this product from Morocco are directed to French markets. Large quantities of tomatoes also go to the UK and the Netherlands. The growth in shipments to these two countries played a key role in the overall growth of tomato exports from Morocco.
It should be noted that Morocco manages to increase sales volumes almost in all export directions. However, shipments to some countries demonstrate the most active growth. For example, Moroccan producers managed to export their first tomato shipments to Belgium just five years ago, and tomatoes from Morocco appeared on markets in Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Austria only last season. Nevertheless, within a year, shipment volumes to Denmark and Austria doubled, and exports to the Czech Republic increased threefold.
At the same time, Morocco reduced its tomato exports to russia. In 2016, more than 20% of all export volumes were shipped to russia. Then shipments decreased annually and have been practically absent since 2021.
On the other hand, imports into EU countries are growing dynamically, which allows Morocco to occupy leading positions among the largest global tomato exporters. From 2017-2021, the North African country was ranked 4-6th in the rating but confidently entered the top three since 2022.
