European tomato growers, particularly those in the south of the continent, have warned that Brexit, a lack of support from the EU, and uncontrolled imports from producers like Morocco, have combined to threaten their future. The concerns were made in a statement following a meeting of the French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish Tomato Contact Group near Rennes in France earlier this month.
“The uncontrolled growth of tomato imports from Morocco and the Community’s policies regarding plant health and packaging, derived from the Farm to Table strategy, threaten Community tomato production, which follows a decreasing trend in its production and foreign trade,” warned the group.
They point out that EU tomato imports from Morocco have risen from 365,695 tonnes in 2013 (the first year after the entry into force of the Association Agreement between the EU and Morocco) to 557,225 tons in 2022 (or 701,541 tonnes if UK figures are included). The group also pointed out that the original preferential quota under the agreement was for just 285,000 tonnes. At the same time Spanish tomato exports to the UK have fallen from 143,182 tonnes to 70,780 tonnes based on UN data. “It is in the British market where the loss of competitiveness of Community production is most clearly observed,” added the statement.
Tomato growers in Europe say they are being competitively disadvantaged by European Commission policies on a range of issues including phytosanitary issues and new demands on packaging, both of which they will formally ask the Commission to abandon. The group has also asked the European Commission for extraordinary aid of up to 10% of the value of the marketed tomato production of producer organizations “to compensate for the damage caused, on the one hand, by the negligence in the application of the cooperation and safeguard clauses of the EU Association Agreement with Morocco and, on the other hand, by the application of the tariff concessions of the Agreement to the productions of Western Sahara, which is becoming the main tomato exporting area of this country.”