Spanish Food Companies Flock to Morocco, Seeking Growth Opportunities

Morocco appears to be an El Dorado for Spanish food companies. In total, 360 Spanish companies related to the primary sector operate in Morocco, according to the latest data compiled by ICEX. Adding participations and subsidiaries, this number exceeds a thousand, according to epe.es. About 10% of Spanish companies in Morocco are directly or indirectly invested in the food industry, it is specified. Among them is Ebro Foods (rice brands such as Brillante or Cigala) which settled in the Larache region in 2001 through the company Mundiriz. This Spanish food company has built the country’s largest rice production plant, for an investment of more than 15 million euros. Its maximum annual production capacity is 50,000 tons.

Spanish agricultural machinery companies like Criado y López, seed companies like Semillas Fito S.A., or olive oil companies like Aliminter S.A. have also set their sights on Morocco. Most of them have settled in the Souss Valley, in the southern Agadir region, and in the Ghrab area, between Tangier and Rabat. Morocco is attracting not only Spanish companies. Portuguese food companies are also heading towards the kingdom.

Why is Morocco attractive? The kingdom offers several advantages, including cheap labor. The kingdom has a more favorable regulatory framework than that offered by the European Union (EU), but also a preferential agreement with the EU by which almost all products are liberalized, with the exception of some such as apples or sweet almonds which are subject to quotas. In Spain, food companies suffer from the lack of generational change, the scarcity of water and land.