Morocco has officially outpaced Spain in tomato exports to the European Union for the second year in a row, marking a significant shift in the agricultural landscape. In the 2025-2026 season, Morocco exported an impressive 493,327 tons of tomatoes, compared to Spain's 475,803 tons, as reported by Hortoinfo, based on statistics from ICEX-Eurostat. The margin between the two countries is relatively narrow, with a difference of about 17,500 tons. This change has been brewing for years in one of the most emblematic products of southern Spanish agriculture. The announcement coincided with the recent **Fruit Attraction** event held in Madrid, one of the largest international trade fairs for fruits and vegetables, which dedicated its 2025 edition to the Spanish tomato.
Despite Spain maintaining a slightly higher price for its tomatoes at €2.14 per kilogram compared to Morocco’s €2.09, this price advantage no longer compensates for the volume difference. In the latest campaign, Spanish tomato exports to the EU reached a total value of €1.017 billion. Analyzing the evolution over the last decade reveals a stark trend: since the 2016-2017 season, Spain has lost 37% of its tomato exports to the EU, while Morocco has increased its exports by 22%.
Furthermore, Spain's production of tomatoes has declined significantly. According to the Spanish Federation of Exporting Producers of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, and Live Plants (FEPEX), the production of tomatoes for fresh consumption plummeted from 2.32 million tons in 2014 to just 1.65 million tons in 2024, a reduction of nearly one-third. Simultaneously, Spanish imports of Moroccan tomatoes surged by 269%, reflecting an ongoing trend of increasing dependence on Moroccan produce.
Almería's Tomato Industry Faces Challenges and Changes
The impact of these changes is particularly felt in Andalusia, specifically in Almería, the leading center for Spanish tomato production and export, followed distantly by Murcia. Data from the province illustrates the extent of transformation in the industry. Ten years ago, Almería exported nearly 498 million kilograms of tomatoes to the EU. However, in the 2024-2025 season, that figure had fallen to 357 million kilograms, a drop of 28%. Notably, Morocco had already surpassed Almería's tomato exports back in the 2018-2019 season, well before overtaking the overall exports from Spain.
Despite selling fewer tomatoes, Almería's farmers and marketers have managed to achieve higher prices. Revenue from tomato exports has risen from €451 million to €567 million, a 25% increase in current euros, despite a decrease in the volume of products sold. The average price has surged by nearly 75%, climbing from €0.91 to €1.59 per kilogram. However, this increased revenue does not necessarily translate into higher profits, as production costs have also escalated.
Tomatoes remain a significant agricultural business in Almería, occupying 8,550 hectares in the last campaign, ranking just behind peppers and watermelons, according to Asaja Almería. This production generated €997 million at origin, accounting for approximately one-quarter of the nearly €4 billion revenue from the province's horticulture sector. The pattern is similar in other major exporting regions, albeit with less impact. In the 2024-2025 season, Murcia contributed 8.95% of Spain's tomatoes sold in the EU, while Granada accounted for 7.61%. Murcia has seen its exports decline by almost 30% over a decade, although its revenue rose to €73.6 million. Granada has lost nearly half of its volume but commands the highest price among the three regions at €2.70 per kilogram, supported by specialty varieties like cherry tomatoes.
Shifts in Cultivation and Regulatory Challenges
The decline in Spanish tomato exports cannot solely be attributed to Morocco; there are significant shifts occurring in the types of crops being planted within Andalusian greenhouses. FEPEX points to rising production costs and dwindling competitiveness against third countries as ongoing challenges faced by the sector. The structure of production costs plays a crucial role; tomatoes are labor-intensive crops with high associated expenses. Recent data from Asaja Almería indicates a reduction in the area designated for tomato cultivation by 2.3% in the 2025-2026 season, while the acreage for cucumbers, zucchinis, eggplants, and melons has increased. In particular, melon cultivation expanded by 11% in land area and saw a 52.6% increase in production value. Eggplant production also experienced a revenue boost of 27.3%.
Moreover, Spanish agricultural organizations acknowledge that tomatoes and watermelons are two products significantly affected by competition from Morocco and Senegal. When harvests in these countries suffer due to water scarcity or pest issues, fewer imports arrive, allowing Spanish farmers to maintain better prices. Interestingly, while Spain is losing tomato sales in Europe, it is simultaneously increasing its imports from Morocco. Between January and May 2026 alone, Spain imported 46,430 tons of Moroccan tomatoes, accounting for over 70% of all tomato imports during that period, amounting to €85.5 million—nearly three times the value from the same timeframe in 2017.
Furthermore, the competition with Morocco extends to Brussels, particularly regarding tomatoes cultivated in Western Sahara. Currently, about 1,300 hectares in that region are dedicated to tomato production, with plans to increase this to 13,000 hectares by 2030. In October 2024, the European Court of Justice annulled the application of trade advantages from the EU-Morocco agreement to this territory due to the lack of consent from the Sahrawi people, determining that its tomatoes and melons must be labeled as products of Western Sahara, not Morocco. For legal certainty, the agreement was extended for another year. However, when that extension expired in October 2025, Brussels and Rabat negotiated new conditions that restored tariff advantages to these products, provoking significant backlash from agricultural organizations that argue that the new labeling replaces mentions of Western Sahara with Moroccan regional names. A proposal to block this in the European Parliament failed by just one vote.
The battle over tomato exports is far from over. The modification of the agreement has been provisionally in effect since October 2025 but still requires approval from the European Parliament, which has yet to schedule a voting date. FEPEX has joined forces with producer organizations from France, Italy, Portugal, and Poland to demand its rejection. The issue of Moroccan competition has been a significant point of discussion at Fruit Attraction, as pointed out by Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, the Andalusian Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, who reiterated to El Confidencial that Morocco does not adhere to the same phytosanitary, labor, or salary standards. He also raised concerns about compliance with established import limits and criticized the inclusion of Western Sahara tomatoes in commercial quotas, echoing the frustration of Spanish farmers. In response to these challenges, municipalities in Almería such as El Ejido, Níjar, and Almería have approved motions to support the sector, demanding that imported products meet the same labor, social, environmental, and phytosanitary requirements as those within Europe.
As reported by elconfidencial.com.
