Climate change brings with it challenges that spark unique headlines. For the first time since 2015, Spain overtook the United Kingdom as the leading importer of Moroccan sweet corn, reported by an agricultural analytics bureau, EastFruit. Moroccan watermelon sales in the European Union rose dramatically during the first half of 2025, a 53% increase compared to the same period last year, according to Hortoinfo.
A fairly water-intensive crop, watermelons, like avocados and other select crops, faced discontinued irrigation subsidies from Morocco’s Ministry of Agriculture in 2022 as water and rainfall challenges arose. But consumers know what they want, and farmers know the land.
Blueberries, too, represent an interesting evolution in cultivation and commodity export trends in Morocco. The blueberry industry in Morocco is young—it began in the 1990s— and overlaps with a dramatic rise in global consumption and demand in the antioxidant-rich berry. Market analysts noted the 2024 season represented a milestone for Moroccan blueberries, with exports reaching approximately 67,300 tons, a 25% increase from the previous season. Morocco is now the United Kingdom’s top supplier of blueberries.
In 2022, the USDA noted that Morocco’s “fruit exports more than doubled from $729 million to more than $1.5 billion, accounting for more than a third of their total agricultural exports in 2021. This was largely driven by substantial gains in berries …”
Several nations have rapidly become agricultural export powerhouses over a twenty-year period. Brazil has quickly risen to the world’s top soybean producer and exporter; a function of favorable soil, climate and strategic agricultural policies. The Netherlands has also harnessed its location, specialization and technology to become a $130 billion ag/horticulture export leader in the EU.
Agriculture still matters
Beyond national priorities related to sustainability like the Green Morocco Plan and the National Sustainable Development Strategy for 2030, several sectors across Morocco drive sustainability in the agriculture sector, where about one-third of Moroccans work full-time, part-time, or seasonally.
The EU-Morocco Association Agreement, in force since 2000, was expanded in 2012 to liberalize and guide agricultural, processed agricultural, and fish product trade between the two neighbors. As Morocco World News (MWN) previously reported this year, agricultural two-way trade reached a record €7 billion ($7.6 billion) in 2024, representing 12% of total goods exchanged between the two sides. Morocco was the EU’s leading vegetable supplier last year, with export volumes passing one million tons, a seven percent increase from 2023.
The OCP Group, Morocco’s mining and fertilizer enterprise, is implementing initiatives aimed at broad farming sustainability for both basic cereal and grains as well as export crops like berries and fruits. Some of these solutions include soil mapping, no-till farming, and desalination to reduce the consumption of increasingly precious freshwater.
Even the average foreigner knows that Morocco’s development policy has been consistent for years: Agriculture is crucial, and finding water to support agriculture is equally important.
It’s a balancing act: Utilizing limited natural resources to support today’s agricultural sector while keeping an eye on future generations and national needs.
2025 has witnessed consumer inflation as a driver of the consumer’s choice of food and produce. EuroStat inflation data for August reveal familiar challenges for the EU: “Food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual [inflation] rate in August (3.2%, compared with 3.3% in July).” Some analysts in the UK expect food cost inflation to approach six percent this year.
Trade relations
In 2024, Spanish tomato producers grew increasingly concerned about import competition from Morocco and elsewhere. They saw growing imports as a threat to their livelihood. Morocco was the second leading supplier of tomatoes in the EU behind the Netherlands. Ongoing negotiations between the EU and Morocco related to agricultural tariff quotas, price supports, and distribution issues are expected this fall. Absolutist demands are a relic of the pre-2012 relationship.
Spain’s voracious appetite for tomatoes may be met with home-grown and imported produce, just as the US finds its supply of cherished oranges sourced from South Africa and Mexico, not just Florida.
The EU ag sector itself maintains resiliency. March floods devastated parts of southern and eastern Spain, damaging precious citrus crops, but the soft wheat harvest in Spain this summer (7.1 Metric tons estimated) may be the second biggest on record. Morocco’s EU neighbors, along with Ukraine and others, have traditionally been, and remain, significant suppliers of grains and cereals (livestock feed) as the nation copes with drought challenges.
This is not new information; international trade is all about comparative advantage, location, and price, even with climate change and drought conditions.
MWN reported last week that Morocco’s current dam storage level stands at about 5.6 billion cubic meters of water, with an overall fill rate of 33%. For a country determined to keep farms operating and rural communities vibrant, this data is promising and respectable. Climate and rainfall challenges across the globe mean that trade cooperation is paramount, even as nations balance multiple domestic priorities and constituencies.
Forged by a mix of negotiation, tension, agreement, and historical ties, Morocco and the EU have developed a mature trade relationship in which the movement of agricultural products represents a key barometer of cooperation. Many consumers seem to agree.