Across Brussels, France, Italy, Poland and now Spain, a week of farmer and rancher protests has brought the Common Agricultural Policy into sharp focus. Protesters argue that the policy erodes profitability when compared with livelihoods in places like Morocco. Adding to the tension are issues such as limited generational renewal, the push for photovoltaic installations, and water and land scarcity in Spain. Here, investment funds compete for farmland against crops, prompting several Spanish agri-food firms to shift some production overseas by founding subsidiaries or taking stakes in local companies. Morocco emerges as a clear beneficiary thanks to cheaper labor and a regulatory environment seen as more business-friendly than that offered by the European Union. The most recent ICEX data indicate that 360 Spanish companies are directly linked to the Moroccan primary sector, with the count rising above a thousand when investees and subsidiaries are included. Economist and professor at EAE Business School, Juan Carlos Higueras, notes that roughly one in ten Spanish companies operating in Morocco engage in the primary sector, directly or indirectly. Notable brands in this cluster include Juver for juices, Borges for oils and nuts, and Ebro Foods with the Cigala and Brillante rice brands.
The shift is not unique to Spain. Other European peers, including Portugal, have redirected parts of their agri-food operations to Morocco to capitalize on the neighboring country’s advantages. In Spain, a significant move began about fifty years ago, with a major reorganization occurring in 2012 after the signing of the EU-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, recalls José María Pozancos, director of the Spanish Federation of Trade Associations and Fruit, Vegetable, Flower and Live Plant Exporters (Fepex). The EU maintains a preferential stance with Türkiye, and most products have been liberalized, with a few remaining quota-bound, such as apples and sweet almonds. Tariffs on other imports hover around forty percent. In practice, safeguards exist on paper to shield European production but have rarely been activated. This marked the start of a gradual shift in the Spanish agri-food landscape, which today comprises more than 29,000 firms in the sector. The field includes machinery makers like Criado y López, seed producers such as Semillas Fito SA, and olive oil firms like Aliminter SA.
Low prices and cheap labor
Spain’s agri-food footprint extends beyond its borders to neighbors in Tunisia, Egypt and Türkiye, and has reached across the Atlantic to Peru and Brazil, where tomato canning and related fruit and vegetable processing have grown. Yet Morocco remains the standout partner in scale, accounting for roughly 14.4 percent of the bilateral trade. Direct investment in Morocco’s primary sector by Spain exceeded 23 million euros in 2022, with 14 million in the first three quarters of 2023. By contrast, Moroccan investment in Spain has been modest. Spanish exports to Morocco reached a historic 9.5 billion euros in 2021, up 28 percent from the prior year, representing about 3 percent of Spain’s outward shipments. Across the European Union, more than half of Moroccan imports come from the bloc, and more than 65 percent of Morocco’s exports go to Europe.
Observers point to several advantages Morocco offers to agri-food businesses. In Spain, the sector as a whole is valued near 140 billion euros and employs more than 440,000 people. In Morocco, the primary sector accounts for a larger share of the economy, about 12.65 percent of GDP, and supports roughly 35 percent of the population, nearly 37 million people, with average monthly earnings around 300 euros. Higueras emphasizes that labor costs heavily influence profitability, sometimes making up about half of total costs in tomato production scenarios. Gabriel Trenzado, general manager of the Spanish Agri-Food Cooperatives, notes that the impact of labor on profitability is clearest in tomato cultivation, where production models remain labor-intensive and market shares continue to shift notably.
Water scarcity and access to land also drive strategic decisions. Land is comparatively cheaper and easier to obtain in Morocco, though foreign ownership of arable land remains restricted, with rental arrangements becoming a practical route. The Moroccan regulatory framework is frequently cited as friendlier to business activity and allows operations with fewer constraints than the EU’s Green Deal or ongoing farm-to-fork debates. These regulatory differences help explain why some Spanish firms maintain a physical presence in Spain while routing most operations through Morocco to cut costs and gain local market access. Critics warn that such patterns could undermine European primary production and raise dependence on external suppliers if reforms fail to address generational renewal and competitiveness.
The strategic stance of many Spanish producers is to keep a foothold in Spain while expanding the majority of activities in Morocco. This risk-managed approach aims to retain access to European aid and reassure stakeholders that the home market remains secure. Critics contend that the shift creates unfair competition and could erode profitability for companies that continue to operate mainly in Europe. The argument persists: without meaningful changes to labor costs, land policy, and regulatory regimes, Europe could face growing vulnerability in its primary sector and potential shortages of supply during stress periods.