A meeting recently held by the European Commission's Fruit and Vegetable Markets Observatory's tomato subgroup took stock of the last summer campaign, in which Spain produced 475,051 tons of tomatoes. This figure represents a 6% decrease over 2022.
Andalusia accounts for 50% of the production, with more than 235,000 tons. However, it should be noted that summer tomato productions are widely distributed throughout the territory.
The area stood at 6,808 hectares, i.e. 300 less than in 2022. According to estimates, production costs have increased by more than 34% on average since June 2021.
Forecasts are that Spain will produce 1.216 million tons of tomatoes in winter, i.e. practically the same amount as in the 2022 winter season, when it produced 1.205 million tons.
The Spanish delegation also expressed strong concern about the decline in household consumption. According to the latest data from the Food Consumption Panel of the MAPA until August of this year, consumption decreased by 1.5% over the same period in 2022, following the trend of previous years. In 2022, consumption decreased by 11% over 2021.
The meeting also highlighted the strong competition from third countries, mainly Morocco and, at a distant second place, Turkey. Moroccan tomato exports in the 2022/2023 campaign exceeded 716,000 tons, which represents a growth of more than 25% in the last five years. Moroccan exports have had a strong impact on Community production, as reflected by the negative evolution of production in Spain, in a scenario in which the Commission hasn't adopted any of the measures provided for in the Association Agreement with Morocco to alleviate the distortions it is causing.
Source: fepex.es