Rabat – Recent statistics from EastFruit show that Morocco’s tomato exports to Norway reached a new milestone as the country sent 5,000 metric tons of the Moroccan produce from July 2024 to March this year.
The number reflects a 37.9% increase compared to the same period last season, EastFruit reported on Thursday, noting that the data is also up by 28.9% compared to the total volume exported in the previous one.
Commending Morocco’s growing prominence as a global supplier, East Fruit recalled that the North African country ranked among the world’s top tomato exporters in 2021.
“Tomatoes are the cornerstone of the country’s fruit and vegetable exports, leading in both volume and revenue,” the website said, noting that the Moroccan produce is a favorite for key markets like France, the UK, and the Netherlands.
Several reports highlighted Morocco’s tomato leadership among international markets despite challenges stemming from drought and lack of rainfall.
In April, Fresh Plaza quoted the deputy managing director of the Delassus Group, who said Morocco’s tomato exports reached 690,000 tons this season.
The UK also imported 122,720 tons of Moroccan produce last year.
Morocco exports to 46 countries, with the UK alone representing 18% of the total,” Fatiha Charrat said.
The country’s exports have long faced backlash as international growers, particularly Europeans, see Moroccan produce as a threat to their local supplies.
Trucks loading Moroccan vegetables and fruits, including tomatoes, have been raided and vandalized by European farmers in different countries, especially Spain and France.
The farmers explain their vandalism acts as a protest against what they perceive as “unfair competition” from non-EU countries.
Exporters from Morocco have long expressed dismay and concerns about the vandalism of Moroccan produce in EU countries.
Oussama Machi, told Fresh Plaza in February last year that he does not see “any difference between what’s happening in Europe now and the attacks by “Houthi pirates in the Red Sea.”
The Moroccan exporter sees that people behind the vandalism act don’t care whether the trucks are destined for the Spanish market or the UK, targeting trucks simply because they come from Morocco.
The Moroccan Confederation of Agriculture and Rural Development raised the same concerns, describing the acts as baseless.