Brussels, 18/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Spain and Morocco, two of the main suppliers of tomatoes to the EU market, are holding meetings to keep the prices up during the low season. A joint Moroccan-Spanish fruit and vegetables committee will be meeting in November, explain Moroccan newspapers and the vice-president of the Moroccan inter-professional federation of horticulturalists, Mounir Omar. He said the aim of the meeting was to deal with any fall in tomato prices when the weather is cold. The first such meeting was held in Casablanca a month ago and the next one is scheduled for April 2014 in Madrid.
APEFEL (the Moroccan all-product inter-professional association) says Morocco's tomato exports totalled 416,867 tonnes in the 2011/2012 marketing year, up 11% on 374,378 tonnes in 2010/2011.
Tomatoes account for 55% of Moroccan horticultural exports, which rose by 3% in 2011/2012 over 2010/2011).
The main outlet for Moroccan tomatoes is Europe. In the last marketing year, the EU accounted for 85% of Moroccan tomato exports (355,205 tonnes) compared with 338,769 tonnes in the previous marketing year. Russia is second, importing 51, 022 tonnes, up 113% to 12% of Moroccan tomato exports. (FB/transl.fl)