HIBAPRESS – Shafiq Anouri
A report published by the Spanish newspaper "Vozpópuli" revealed that Morocco has entered the list of the top 10 importers of Spanish agricultural goods, benefiting from the special trade relations with the European Union and the increase in US customs duties.
The newspaper, which cited data from a report by "CaixaBank Research Agri-Food Sector Report," said that Morocco has succeeded in displacing the United States from the top ten destinations for Spanish exports. The source added that the aforementioned organization's report, which relied on "DataComex" statistics, placed Morocco in ninth place in terms of importance for Spanish exports, immediately behind China, and ahead of the United States. The source explained that Morocco has become the second-largest contributing country to the growth of Spanish exports of agricultural products outside the Eurozone, highlighting that "thanks to the exceptional growth of exports to Morocco in recent years, its market share has increased by 1.3 points to reach 2.4% of the total, and has displaced the United States from the top ten destinations." This data refutes the claims of some Spanish agricultural organizations that speak of a crisis among farmers who say they cannot sell their products, and it also confirms that the protests of the Spanish countryside fall within the category of "political bidding," as the agricultural sector itself is making large profits from exporting its products to Morocco. This contradiction shows that the political criticisms of some farmers against Moroccan products, despite the fact that these products are actually sold and imported into Spain, do not reflect the reality of trade relations between the two countries, but rather come in the context of local electoral or political campaigns, while the economic reality confirms the importance of Moroccan-Spanish cooperation in the agricultural field.
