Morocco continues to top the list of leading agricultural exporters to the Spanish market. Madrid’s Moroccan imports within this sector totaled $134 million USD as of this past January, an increase of about 45% year-on-year, according to the Spanish Federation of Associations of Exporting Producers of Fruit, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants (FEPEX).
Over the same duration, the volume of Moroccan fruit and vegetable imports rose to over 57,000 tons, an estimated increase of around 31% on the same period last year, while total Spanish purchases from nations outside the European Union amounted to over 164,000 tons last January, compared to 180,000 tons imported from European Union member states.
In total, Spain imported over 345,000 tons of agricultural products last year, an estimated 11% increase over the previous year.
The same figures show that according to 2022 figures published January, 2023 Spain imported 261 million USD worth of vegetables and fruit from outside the European Union, while the value of its purchases from EU member states amounted to the converted equivalent of 137.1 million USD. Spanish imports during this period were up 26% on the figures recorded in January, 2023.
FEPEX also noted that France continues to top the list of leading exporters of vegetables and fruit to the Spanish market within the European Union, with Paris exporting over 110 tons of agricultural products, an increase of 11%. The value of imports from France amounted to a 53.1 million dollar equivalency, an increase of 15%.
Climate change, drought and other natural disasters that Morocco faced last year played a large part in maintaining the growth rates.
Morocco’s greenhouse business, which earns the Kingdom hundreds of millions of dollars per year, generated $266 million from tomato exports alone in 2022, with an additional 30 million dollars from sweet pepper and cucumber exports.
It is also worth noting that the EU nations are the primary customers of Moroccan greenhouse goods. They comprised over 70% of total tomato, sweet pepper, and cucumber demand between July and November of last year. The UK and Sub-Saharan African nations are the second-and-third-most significant markets, accounting for 16.5% and 12%, respectively.