Spectacular developments have occurred in recent years on the Moroccan market, with the increase in the quantities supplied mainly benefiting Egypt and Spain.
Moroccan expenditure on imports of tomato products has recorded very strong growth during recent marketing years, resulting in a shift that has seen the relatively stable level of the annual average of about USD 15 million between 2009/2010 and 2018/2019 climb to levels close to USD 34 to 35 million these last two years.
Morocco imports almost no canned tomatoes (customs codes 200210), as the demand is mainly focused on tomato paste and sauces & ketchup. Between 2009/2010 and 2019/2020, annual Moroccan purchases of paste mobilized an average of 9,200 metric tonnes (mT) of product, with flows ranging from 7,000 mT to 11,000 mT. The 2020/2021 marketing year saw a record high in foreign purchases (12,500 mT), followed in marketing year 2021/2022 by a dramatic decline to 8,400 mT.
Imports of sauces and ketchup have grown exponentially from less than 700 mT in 2003/2004 to more than 12,500 mT in 2021/2022. In fact, the qualitative profile of Moroccan imports of tomato products (which between 2005/2006 and 2016/2017 were heavily focused on purchases of paste, accounting for almost three quarters of annual expenditure) very quickly evolved over the last five years towards a totally reversed balance where 68% of expenditure is dedicated to supplies of sauces & ketchup and only 31% to purchases of pastes (see additional information at the end of the article).
This rapid development of Moroccan purchases of sauces & ketchup has mainly benefited Spanish operators, whose market share has increased from 22% of a confidential market of about 1,000 mT in 2010/2021 to 83% of a market that "weighed" more than 12,300 mT in 2021/2022.
Spain has also benefited from the growth in paste supplies to Morocco, but ranks second behind Egypt. This market, in which China, Italy and Portugal have long played dominant roles, is now controlled by two players - Egypt and Spain - who share 80 to 90% of Morocco's foreign purchases (and up to 94% in 2021/2022) (see additional information at the end of this article).
Some complementary data
Unit prices of Moroccan imports, particularly in the sectors of pastes and sauces, have been sufficiently stable for most of the increase in Moroccan spending to be attributed to volume increases alone.
Distribution of Moroccan expenditure (in USD) for tomato product supplies over the last nineteen years.
For a long time, the Moroccan paste market was shared between half a dozen supplier countries, but it is now mainly controlled by Egypt and Spain.
Source: Trade Data Monitor
