On the 7,767.26 million kilos of tomatoes exported worldwide during the past agricultural year (2021), just over 8% were produced in Morocco. In the game of exports, Mexico takes the lion’s share, it is the country that holds the record in this area with 1,903.78 million kilos (+29.3%).
The Dutch tomato is also doing well despite a drop in sales (-10.19%). The Netherlands, with 933.71 kilos, occupy second place on the podium ahead of Spain 662.49 million (-27.09%), and Morocco 629.51 million kilos (+41.84%). These four countries alone account for more than half of total world tomato exports, or 53.16% of the total. Mexico exported nearly a quarter (24.51% of the total), the Netherlands (12.02%), Spain (8.53%), and Morocco 8.10% of the world total. Over the past ten years, Morocco has increased its tomato exports by 41.84%, while those of the main suppliers of European markets, Spain and the Netherlands, have decreased by -10.19% and -41.84% according to data recently published by Hortoinfo, the Spanish agricultural communication medium.
Mexico went from 1,472.39 million kilos of tomatoes in 2012 to 1,903.78 in 2021, the Netherlands exported 1,039.6 million kilos in 2012, falling to 933.71 in 2021, the Spain went from 908.65 in 2012 to 1,026.76 in 2013 to 662.49. For its part, Morocco has seen an increase in its exports, going from 443.81 million kilos in 2012 to 629.51 million kilos in 2021. Turkey, which completes the top five in the world, is in the wake of the Kingdom with 616 .57 million kilos, Afghanistan is in sixth place with 312.1 million kilos, China exported 275.88 million kilos last year, France 262.18, Belgium 227.34 and the United States closes the list of the “top ten” of the biggest exporters with an exported volume last year of 198.64 million kilos of tomatoes. Mexico is also the country in the world that in 2021 obtained the most revenue from its exports of this fruit, with a total of 2,145.83 million euros, of the 8,839.25 million euros that accounted for total world tomato exports.
The second largest country was the Netherlands with 1,737.2 million euros. Spain ranks third in terms of revenue with 975.78 million euros and Morocco is in fourth place with 723.38 million euros. Among the largest tomato exporting countries in the world, the one with the best average export price for this vegetable in 2021 is Italy with 2.32 euros per kilo, Canada 2.02 euros/kilo, the -Bas, 1.86 euro/kilo, France, 1.61 euro/kilo, and Spain with an average price in 2021 of 1.47 euro/kilo. The USA comes next with 1.35 euro/kilo, Belgium 1.34 euro/kilo, China is eighth with 1.19 euro/kilo, Morocco is ninth with 1.15 and Mexico closes the top 10 list with an average price of 1.13 euros per kilo.
That said, Morocco grants itself market shares and often at the expense of Spain, even surpassing it in certain places where it was a leader in the matter, like Great Britain where during the period between 2019 and 2021, sales of Spanish tomatoes decreased by 43%. But not that the tomato from the Netherlands has seen its red tarnish somewhat in favor of ours as well. Indeed, Dutch tomato exports to this market fell by 22%, unlike Morocco, which saw its own soar to 63.44%. The United Kingdom imported a total of 67.82 million kilograms of tomatoes from Morocco in 2019 and 110.85 million kilograms in 2021, replacing Spain (120.21 million kilograms of tomatoes in 2019 at 68.43 million kilograms in 2021) as the second largest exporter of tomatoes to the UK market, says the United Nations Statistics Division.
However, the Netherlands remains the leading exporter of tomatoes to the United Kingdom (163.24 million kilograms in 2019 at 127.27 million kilograms), followed by Morocco and then Spain. They all supply 91.36% of the UK’s tomato needs. Morocco and the United Kingdom are linked by a trade agreement signed in October 2020 in London in the midst of Brexit. In 2018, Morocco’s exports to the UK market amounted to around $1.2 billion, while imports amounted to $1.3 billion.
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