Morocco is a Ferrari": Spain admits defeat in the face of the power of the Moroccan avocado

Pepe Cuadrado, an agricultural engineer and founder of Iberian Avocados, does not seek excuses. In a recent intervention, he describes the Moroccan sector as a "Ferrari" running at full speed. The difference in scale explains this brutal observation: while a 10-hectare farm is considered vast in Spain, Morocco has domains of 200 hectares. These flat, sandy, and well-irrigated lands allow for almost hydroponic cultivation that European farmers simply cannot reproduce.

The economic gap further widens the gap. The expert points to the cost of labor, between 7 and 10 euros per day in Morocco, a rate that Spanish producers cannot match. The figures validate this dominance: the cultivated area in the Kingdom has jumped by more than 150% between 2018 and 2023. The current campaign is closing with a harvest of 120,000 tons, a volume that far exceeds the capabilities of Spain, the historical leader of the European Union.

Cuadrado believes that Europe is now favoring the production of third countries to supply the continent. Faced with this competition deemed lost in advance on volume, the only solution remains quality. Spanish professionals are betting on the law of supply and demand, hoping that the consumer will continue to pay a high price for a national product rich in fat. But uncertainty reigns in the face of the structural rise of Morocco.