According to estimates, about 20% of Dutch greenhouse producers could stop working this winter because of the high costs of electricity, including many tomato producers, which could benefit tomato-producer countries such as Morocco, whose shipments to Europe have shown remarkable increases in recent campaigns.
According to Eurostat, European tomato imports from Morocco increased by 9% and reached 475 million kilos in 2021. In the first half of 2022, they are expected to have increased by 16%. France is the largest buyer of Moroccan tomatoes, with a 56.2% share, followed by the United Kingdom, with 11%, and Spain, with 8.3%.
In 2020, the Netherlands was the second-largest exporter of tomatoes, with a value of 1.82 billion dollars; but Moroccan tomato imports have increased rapidly, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (OCE). Imports of Moroccan tomatoes have increased from 3.15 million kilos in 2010, to 20.5 million kilos in 2015, to 34.4 million kilos in 2020, and to 37.3 million kilos in 2021 (according to provisional data).
The country is thus moving closer to Spain, which supplied some 120 million kilos of fresh tomatoes to the Netherlands in 2010.
EFP International, the fruit and vegetable exporter, is convinced that there is an opportunity for Moroccan tomatoes. Moreover, the fact that Dutch tomatoes are relatively expensive on the world market gives Moroccan tomatoes the initial impetus for a good start to the season.
Source: aenverde.es