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Morocco: ever greater dependence on imports
According to the Moroccan press, "the tomato paste industry has been completely losing speed." This statement is all the more painful as it comes at a time when the Moroccan government is launching its policy for promoting national industries to order to substitute local products for imports. Just two decades ago, Morocco, which currently reports a chronically negative balance in the tomato paste sector, was still an exporting country, and remains today among the countries that traditionally feature major tomato product consumption.
Both double and triple concentrated tomato paste is used by the fish canning industry, by the catering sector and by households for the preparation of various pasta- or rice-based dishes. The highly popular "Harira" soup should also be mentioned, a traditional dish for breaking the fast during the month of Ramadan in Morocco and western Algeria, but also consumed throughout the year, particularly during winter. Of Andalusian origin, this soup consists of tomatoes, vegetables, meat and onions. This traditional dish has long been a "pillar" of the tomato processing sector, whilst also being a driver of competition between some five or six key companies of the nation's industry. No less than 60% of the total Moroccan production was consumed during the month of fasting, i.e. 12 000 to 15 000 tonnes of paste, the rest being absorbed by the fish-canning industry or shipped to foreign markets, especially in Europe.
Demonstrating the quality of Moroccan productions, the Lukus company, a partner of the Agraz group located in the Larache region, had even specialized in the production of dehydrated tomato powder (all of which was exported to the American and Japanese markets) made from processing tomatoes grown on their own land or delivered under cultivation contracts concluded with farmers in the region.
Both double and triple concentrated tomato paste is used by the fish canning industry, by the catering sector and by households for the preparation of various pasta- or rice-based dishes. The highly popular "Harira" soup should also be mentioned, a traditional dish for breaking the fast during the month of Ramadan in Morocco and western Algeria, but also consumed throughout the year, particularly during winter. Of Andalusian origin, this soup consists of tomatoes, vegetables, meat and onions. This traditional dish has long been a "pillar" of the tomato processing sector, whilst also being a driver of competition between some five or six key companies of the nation's industry. No less than 60% of the total Moroccan production was consumed during the month of fasting, i.e. 12 000 to 15 000 tonnes of paste, the rest being absorbed by the fish-canning industry or shipped to foreign markets, especially in Europe. Demonstrating the quality of Moroccan productions, the Lukus company, a partner of the Agraz group located in the Larache region, had even specialized in the production of dehydrated tomato powder (all of which was exported to the American and Japanese markets) made from processing tomatoes grown on their own land or delivered under cultivation contracts concluded with farmers in the region.
In addition to pastes, exports to the European Union also featured tomato juice and canned peeled tomatoes. New specialty products (ketchup, sauces or juices) have been developed by Moroccan operators, but these are now made mainly from imported raw materials.
Regular imports of tomato paste have become the norm for the past decade or so. According to estimates from fish-canning operators, volumes vary between 10 000 and 15 000 tonnes per year, and are intended for fish canneries as well as manufacturers of sauces and ketchup. The bulk of paste imports comes from five countries: Egypt, Spain, and to a lesser extent, China, Portugal and Italy.
Currently, no precise indications are available as to activity levels of the local sector. Conditional preliminary figures provided by the WPTC suggest processing levels of around 130 000 mT per year, handled by a decreasing number of factories (four in 2020 against a dozen twenty years ago, according to the Moroccan Federation of Industries of the canned agricultural products sector – FICOPAM).
In the past, most factories sourced their materials from packing stations or wholesale markets, using varieties of tomatoes not specifically intended for processing. This type of supply is no longer available today, simply because the varieties produced in greenhouses are unsuitable for industrial transport and processing (mostly so-called "long life" varieties suitable for fresh-market export shipments, with the most important qualities being shape and color). So the few factories still in operation source their supplies by signing cultivation contracts concluded annually with growers, as is done in many processing countries around the world. Some plants have even made the choice of vertical integration by producing their own raw materials on land acquired under the public-private partnership scheme, using state-owned land.
Annual Moroccan imports of paste have averaged 9 100 mT over the past eleven years (source Trade Data Monitor LLC)
In total, processing tomato production is currently estimated at 100 000 tonnes, grown on surfaces covering some 5 000 hectares, while the "Maroc Vert" ["Green, Morocco"] scheme was counting on a processing tomato crop of around 700 000 tonnes per year, i.e. the equivalent of 100 000 tonnes of paste.
Source: leconomiste.com
