The fruit sector, an export pillar of the Catalan agri-food economy

From 8 to 10 October, Prodeca is once again organising the grouped participation of Catalan companies at Fruit Attraction (Madrid) to demonstrate the strength of the Catalan sector, both in production and in export potential. 

A benchmark producer in Europe

Thanks to a highly diverse area and a mild Mediterranean climate, Catalonia offers a wide variety of fruit with one unique feature: farming is carried out under an integrated production system. 37% of the fruit grown in Catalonia is integrated production.

Catalonia is one of Europe's leading sweet fruit growing areas, and it is also the world's ninth-largest producer of peaches and nectarines, the eighteenth of pears and the thirty-seventh of apples.

Catalonia normally produces close to one million tonnes of fruit a year (901,005 in 2023) and is the autonomous community that produces the most sweet fruit. Catalan apples and pears, for example, account for more than 50% of Spanish production. Stone fruit is also significant: around 30-35% of the peaches and nectarines produced in Spain are Catalan.

Around 90% of the fruit is sold for fresh consumption and 10% goes to the processing industry.

Fruit, a pillar of agri-food internationalisation

The Fruit and Vegetables sector (Prodeca index) is the third-largest agri-food exporting sector in both value and volume in 2024 (January-July). As a whole, the sector exported 628,934 tonnes worth €808.46M between January and July 2024, up 13.81% in volume and 4.57% in value on the same period in 2023.

Looking at fruit alone, between January and July 2024 Catalonia exported 422,993 tonnes worth €597M, an increase in both volume (+6.84%) and value (+5.16%) on 2023.

In 2023 the sector recovered its historical production and export figures after a year (2022) marked by weather conditions (the March frost).

Catalonia historically exports between 70% and 80% of its fruit (relative to production) to foreign markets and is present in the most demanding European and international chains in terms of quality, traceability and food safety. On 2023 figures this share exceeds 90%.

As for companies, in 2023 Catalonia had 364 regular exporters of fruit, 20% (19.98%) of the Spanish total of 1,822.

The best-selling products abroad by value are peaches, nectarines, citrus, apples and pears.

*January to July data

Destinations of Catalonia's fruit exports

The European Union is the natural market for European fruit and where most of the world's fruit and vegetable producers send their exports. Many producing countries aim to grow ever more, well above their domestic demand, in order to sell in Europe, where they enjoy non-reciprocal preferential treatment when it comes to receiving European fruit.