Madar (Rabat) - Morocco has temporarily suspended tomato exports to African markets to ensure stable supplies at home and help bring prices down, Reuters reported on Thursday, 5 November 2026, citing Lahoucine Aderdour, head of the Moroccan Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Producers and Exporters (FIFEL), and a government source.
Aderdour said the authorities had informed exporters serving African markets of the decision, without giving further details, according to the agency.
The government source, who asked not to be named, said the suspension was "temporary" and aimed at helping to regulate the market, and that exports "will resume soon". The source added that higher-value tomatoes shipped to European markets were exempt.
The decision comes as tomato prices rise in Morocco, owing to lower productivity in the Souss-Massa region, the country's main tomato-growing area, and higher fertiliser and fuel costs.
A Moroccan government spokesman did not answer a question on the export halt directly, but stressed that the government prioritises "food sovereignty", according to the agency, which noted that the government had announced last week that it would regulate food exports to help lower prices.
Morocco is the second-largest tomato supplier to the European Union, while its exports to African markets remain relatively small. Moroccan agricultural exports rose 4.3% year on year to 33.1 billion dirhams (about $3.4 billion) in the first nine months of the year.
In Mauritania, government spokesman Mohamed Melainine Ould Eyih attributed rising tomato prices in mid-October to restrictions imposed by some exporting countries and to the impact of rains on local production, before the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced that tomatoes were back on the market at 500 old ouguiyas a kilo.
