Moroccan olive oil imports surge as Spain trade reverses
Spain has shifted from a net exporter to a net importer of olive oil with Morocco, as diverging harvests and EU trade terms reshape Mediterranean supply chains.
Spain imported 10,384.7 tonnes of Moroccan olive oil between January and April 2026, up from just 103 tonnes a year earlier, according to DataComex. The 9,979% surge, driven primarily by an exceptionally low starting point, has fundamentally flipped the bilateral trade dynamic. Spain is now buying significantly more oil from its southern neighbour than it sells.
Spanish exports to Morocco fell by 75.2% over the same period, dropping from 2,721 tonnes to 673.7 tonnes. In financial terms, this represents a stark reversal: Spain went from exporting €11.11m worth of oil to importing €32.76m. The shift highlights how quickly contrasting weather conditions can alter established agricultural trade flows between neighbouring economies.
The drivers are a matter of diverging harvests. Morocco’s olive groves have recovered from prolonged drought, pushing the Moroccan Interprofessional Olive Federation to estimate production at roughly 200,000 tonnes for the 2025-2026 season. This doubled output arrived on the market with lower prices, bolstered by preferential EU trade terms. It filled a gap left by Spain’s own forecasted 9% decline in production.
This pattern is visible across the continent. Between October 2025 and March 2026, EU-wide purchases of Moroccan oil grew by 712.6%. However, Morocco’s advance is part of a broader redistribution of suppliers. Imports from Turkey collapsed by 95.1%, Syria fell by 83.1% and Argentina dropped by 53.4%.
Despite the dramatic percentages, Tunisia remains the dominant non-EU supplier by a wide margin. Tunisia accounts for 81% of all olive oil the EU buys from third countries, compared to Morocco’s much smaller share. In Spain specifically, Tunisia supplied 15,861 tonnes in early 2026, roughly four times the Moroccan volume.
For European investors and commodities markets, the data points to a supply chain adjustment rather than a structural disruption. Spain’s domestic production for the 2025-2026 season stands at approximately 1.295 million tonnes. This massive base ensures that while Moroccan oil has secured a growing foothold, it does not yet threaten the dominance of Spanish production.
