Murcia’s UK Produce Slump Exposes Britain’s New Global Sourcing Reality
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Fruit and vegetable exports from Murcia to the United Kingdom have fallen by 26% in volume since 2021, according to new figures compiled by Spanish producer association Proexport using Eurostat data — a decline that lays bare just how profoundly Britain's fresh produce sourcing has shifted since EU exit.
Volumes from the south-eastern Spanish region, long one of the UK's most important suppliers of salads and field vegetables, have dropped from 406,868 tonnes to 301,577 tonnes over the period, with revenue down 6% to €515 million. The steepest declines have been felt in cucumbers, down 70%, followed by tomatoes (down 42%), melons (down 41%) and watermelons (down 34%).
Proexport Director General Fernando Gómez described a gradual and widespread decline across all Murcian categories, pointing to a structural shift in UK buying behaviour rather than a seasonal blip. British importers and supermarkets, he noted, are increasingly turning to suppliers beyond the EU: "Products from Morocco, Turkey and Egypt are gaining shelf space at our expense."
Nowhere is that shift more striking than in tomatoes. Moroccan tomato exports to the UK have grown by 157% since Brexit, reaching 126,203 tonnes — more than double Spain's current volume into the British market.
Why this matters for the UK supply chain
These figures tell an important story about the modern reality of Britain's food supply. Rest of World sourcing is no longer a marginal, counter-seasonal top-up; it is now a structural pillar of UK availability, keeping shelves stocked and prices competitive across the calendar year.
That reality sits at the heart of the Fresh Produce Consortium's concerns over the UK–EU SPS agreement and the Government's proposed dynamic alignment with EU sanitary and phytosanitary rules. The FPC has consistently warned that alignment designed around EU trade risks imposing disproportionate new costs and friction on the very non-EU supply chains that British consumers now depend upon — precisely the Moroccan, Turkish, Egyptian and wider Rest of World trade flows these figures show to be growing fastest.
Industry representatives have made the same point to Government directly: aligning UK border and agrifood rules with those of the EU could narrow Britain's sourcing options for certain non-EU imports at a time when supply chain resilience demands the opposite. With extreme weather increasingly disrupting production across traditional European supply regions, diversity of origin is not a luxury for the UK — it is the foundation of food security.
The lesson from Murcia's numbers is clear. Britain's sourcing map has been redrawn, and policy must reflect the supply chain as it is, not as it was. Any regulatory settlement with the EU must safeguard, not penalise, the global trade flows that keep fresh produce affordable and available for UK consumers.
Source: Figures compiled by Proexport, the association of fruit and vegetable producers and exporters of the Region of Murcia, using Eurostat trade data, as reported by FreshPlaza: Murcia's fruit and vegetable exports to UK fall 26% since Brexit.
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