Olive oil: Spain denounces Moroccan competition

Spain denounces Moroccan competition

The European Union (EU) has just allocated 115 million euros to Morocco to support the kingdom in tree planting, including 600,000 new olive trees. Bad news for Spanish olive growers who fear stiff competition.

According to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, only 780,000 tons of olive oil will be produced this season compared to 1.5 million tons last season, a drop of almost 50%.

With this support from Europe for Morocco, Spanish producers fear the worst, especially since this financial support will increase olive oil and table olive production in Morocco and create stiff competition for Spain and other EU olive oil-producing countries such as Italy, Greece, and Portugal.

Morocco produced 200,000 tons of olive oil and 130,000 tons of table olives during the 2021/22 season, according to data from the International Olive Council. Production in the kingdom has been growing continuously since 1990. The kingdom is the world’s sixth-largest producer of olive oil and table olives. The €115 million EU grant aims to support Morocco’s agricultural and forestry sector through the Green Land program. These funds will be used to invest in food production, agricultural development, and biodiversity protection.

“Morocco has just experienced the worst drought in 40 years, threatening water and agricultural systems,” said Olivér Várhelyi in a statement, justifying the significance of this agreement signed with Morocco. The agreement provides for the planting of nearly 600,000 olive trees of more than eight different varieties by 2030. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Moroccan olive oil exports increased by 47% in the first eight months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

The agricultural organization ASAJA Jaén denounced this EU-Morocco agreement. “It is unacceptable that, now that we are in the midst of the new CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), we continue to promote Moroccan agriculture to the detriment of European agriculture,” criticized the leaders of ASAJA Jaén, who lamented the lack of support for Spanish olive growers who will experience a disastrous harvest this year due to the drought. “It is an incomprehensible decision. The logic is that European aid should go to European farmers, especially at this time when we need it so much,” denounced an olive grower from Jaén.