Morocco’s Tomato Exports to Russia Plummet 66% Since 2016

Morocco has lost its position as the leading supplier of tomatoes to Russia. Now, the Russian Federation imports less than 10% of its total tomato imports from the kingdom, reports Challenge. Several causes are behind this underperformance. The newspaper mentions the anti-dumping investigation initiated by the Russian authorities, under pressure from the Russian National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers, whose members are losing competitiveness year after year. Russia had also put in place substantial financial subsidies to set up ultra-modern tomato production units with the aim of reaching a national production of 500,000 tons (or 50% of the total Russian market).

Another cause: the many calls from the Russian federal phytosanitary surveillance service "Rosselkhoznadzor" to ban the import of Moroccan tomatoes because they would be carriers of the pepino mosaic virus. "Disguised protectionism" also explains the decline in Moroccan exports to Russia.

Morocco is not facing the same situation with its four other main European markets. Its exports have clearly increased during the same period: +6% to France, +153% to the United Kingdom, +102% to Spain and even +472% to the Netherlands.