A strong, dry, accurate blow is enough. Only one, in the center of the chest. When this happens, the diaphragm contracts violently and the body exhales all the air it has inside: the person is temporarily unable to inhale. That is exactly what happened to the international date market on October 10, 2025: it was left breathless.
And the reason was a misunderstanding. That and a very long diplomatic conflict that always ends up affecting Spain.
What has happened?
- October 10. The advice of GIDattes (the Tunisian interprofessional date group) published a statement in which the start of exports was announced of dates. Business as usual, really. But they added a clarification that set off all the alarms: “to all markets except the Moroccan one.” In a matter of hours, everyone interpreted that Tunisia was vetoing the export of these fruits to the west.
- October 13 and 14. Given the widespread noise and uncertainty in the sector, the GIDattes He clarified that there was no type of exclusion. Simply put, as it is the main export market, These required a special calendar that would be approved on October 20.
- October 19, 20 and 21. But it was too late, the Moroccan employers’ associations and producer groups had smelled blood. For the first time in years, there was a 20% chance (19.7% in 2024) of the dates consumed by the country would disappear from the equation: the profits for local producers would be enormous.
- October 21. After the meeting on the 20th, the Tunisian press reported that there would indeed be exports to Morocco at the end of October: “like every year“.
What does Algeria have to do with all this? Moroccan farmers have gone directly to where it hurts most: they have accused Tunisian dates of be Algerian. It is, moreover, a classic accusation of the Moroccan countryside. Something that no one can completely rule out (due to the traditional traceability deficits of the Maghreb), but that no one really takes seriously. Although it is not going through its best moment, Tunisia is a giant in the world of dates. He doesn’t need Algeria at all.
But Algeria is a sensitive issue in the western end of North Africa.
A little context. The historical enmity between Morocco and Algeria can be traced back to the very independence of these territories: border disputes ended up leading to the War of the Sands of 1963 and, above all, in the Algerian support for the Polisario Front in Western Sahara.
In 94, an attack in Marrakech (in which two Spaniards died) caused a diplomatic conflict that closed the enormous land border between both countries. They have not been reopened and, in fact, in 2021, diplomatic and commercial relations they are broken.
Suffice it to say that, if the accusations of the Moroccan producers are confirmed, the Tunisian date would disappear from the markets of the Alawite state.
Why is all this so important? This has had an impact on the international date market because, although Tunisia is in the doldrums (and Saudi Arabia has overtaken it in recent years) it is still the second country in date exports. A decision such as that of vetoing the largest importer of dates in the world, Morocco, would have caused a violent restructuring of commercial networks around the globe.
To all this we must add a key fact: the third country in date exports, Israel. Today (with or without a peace agreement) no one knows exactly what will happen to the tens of thousands of tons that the Hebrew country puts on the market each year. And that, logically, generates even more uncertainty.
The important thing is in the details. In dates, for example. In recent days Steve Witkof and Jared Kushner (Trump’s special envoys) revealed that they were working to reach an agreement between Morocco and Algeria that would solve the Sahara issue. It is quite possible: the US president’s obsession with ‘ending all the world’s wars’ may have put a conflict like this in the spotlight.
One, furthermore, that involves a traditional ally of Washington.
However, dates show us that everything is more complicated than it seems. Is the delicate balance of the Mediterranean about to be blown up? We will see it in the coming months.
Image |
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings