Algeria Aims to Challenge Morocco’s Dominance in Global Tomato Export Market

Algeria aspires to become a tomato exporting country, says Jeune Afrique, which recalls that the sector is dominated globally by European countries such as the Netherlands and Spain, but also and above all by Morocco, its great rival, whose exports represent nearly 9% of total world exports. In the current context, this objective will be difficult to achieve for Algeria, which does not have many tomato producers, observes the magazine, citing the Tahraoui group which cultivates tomatoes on a 400-hectare domain in Biskra, in the southeast of Algiers, and the Souakri group, which produces cherry tomatoes on an area of 1,000 hectares in the M’Ghair desert, southwest of the Algerian capital.

Moreover, Algeria continues to condemn the production of tomatoes in Dakhla by companies such as Domaines Abbes Kabbage (DAK), a subsidiary of the Kabbage group, Idyl, and the Franco-Moroccan group Azura which started its production in the Moroccan Sahara since 2006 and has become one of the ten best-selling brands in France, the publication reports. Meanwhile, Moroccan tomato exports reached nearly 660,000 tons in 2023, according to data from the specialized website East Fruit, representing 18.6% of exports to the European Union. Morocco is the second largest supplier of tomatoes to the EU, behind the Netherlands.

Globally, Morocco holds the same position, behind the Netherlands and ahead of Spain, Iran and Mexico. The kingdom mainly exports to France (320,000 tons on average per year), the United Kingdom (122,000 tons), the Netherlands (65,000 tons), Spain (45,000 tons) and Mauritania (26,000 tons). The tomato sector in Morocco is facing climatic challenges (drought and water stress) and the spread of viruses, negatively impacting harvests. Despite this critical situation, tomato exports have brought nearly one billion euros to Morocco, or three-quarters of the total exports of fresh vegetables from the kingdom.