According to data from Euroestacom, the Kingdom of Morocco has increased tomato exports to the European Union by 124.3 percent in volume and by 136.55 percent in value when the exports of 2013 are compared with those of 2004.
In the analysed decade, Spain has increased its exports of this crop to the rest of EU countries by only 13.12 percent in volume and 36.58 percent in value.
In 2004, Morocco exported a total of 163 million kilos of tomatoes at an average price of 0.73 Euro per kilo to the EU. In 2013, this numbers increased to 365.62 million kilos at an average of 0.77 Euro per kilo. In turn, Spain exported to its community partners 750,480,000 kilos of tomatoes at an average of 0.94 Euro per kilo in 2004, and 848.95 million kilos at an average price of 1.13 Euro per kilo in 2013.
According to Spain's Ministry of Agriculture, farm labour was paid at 5 Euro per hour in 2013. Meanwhile, according to data from Morocco's Ministry of Employment, farm labour was paid at € 0.65 per hour in the African country in the same year.
The Mediterranean Agreement, which was approved by the Council and the EU Commission and that is dated January 26, 2000, gave way to the association between the European Communities, their Member States, and the Kingdom of Morocco. Said Agreement, which entered into force in 2012, laid down tariff quotas for Moroccan tomato exports to the EU each year (from October 1 to May 31). These quotas, and the subsequent additional quotas approved are:
253 million kilos for the 2011/12 marketing year; in 2012, Morocco exported 347.35 million kilos. 261 million kilos for the 2012/2013 marketing year; Moroccan tomato exports to the EU amounted in 2013 to 365,620,000 kilos. For the 2013/2014 campaign, the planned quota is of 241 million kilos plus an additional 28 million. The total exports from the North African country to the EU, for the week that goes from March 10 to 16, amounts to 183.47 million kilos, 68.2 percent of the total planned until 31 May. In that week, Morocco exported 10.88 million kilos of tomatoes to the EU.
Source: hortoinfo.es