Morocco’s two main agricultural export products, tomatoes and citrus fruit, are losing ground. Citrus fruit has seen it’s export share compared to volume produced fall to 25% from 40% 5 years ago.
Moroccan citrus has been banned from entering the USA by health authorities. Officially, the ban is due to health reasons (a cargo of clementines containing larvae from Mediterranean fruit fly) but some believe it to be a protective measure for Californian oranges and clementines.
Meanwhile, it will be harder to stock European shelves with Moroccan citrus fruit as the warm temperatures in Europe have led to a higher European production. Buying power in some European countries has decreased and the price of tomatoes at export is now between €0.35-0.45/kilo, but to be profitable they need to reach €0.60/kilo.