Prodeca stages the first US importers' fair devoted exclusively to Catalan products

On Wednesday 17 April Prodeca held the first fair of importers of Catalan products in the United States. 'Catalan Food Show Miami' is organised by Prodeca in collaboration with the Catalan Government Delegation to the United States and ACCIÓ, through its Miami office. A trade-only event, Catalan Food Show Miami became a platform connecting importers of Catalan agri-food products with distributors, shop and supermarket representatives, chefs, sommeliers, restaurant buyers, foodservice, opinion leaders and the media.

During the event, workshops, tastings and masterclasses were held to frame the food and drink within a first-rate food culture.

The 28 Catalan companies, already present in the US market, took part mostly through their importer, making contact with potential retail customers with the aim of increasing market share and sales value.

The Catalan companies taking part in the first Catalan Food Show Miami were: 

• Aigua Vilajuïga
• ⁠Almeny & Corrio
• ⁠Alternativa 3
• Anxoves de l’Escala
• ⁠Blai Ferré i Just
• Bodegas Yzaguirre
• ⁠Bon blat
• ⁠Canigooil
• ⁠Castell d’Encús
• ⁠Celler Cecilio
• ⁠Celler kripta
• ⁠Chocolates Torras
• Cofama
• Concept Pa
• ⁠⁠Dos Deus Vermouth
• ⁠Espinaler
• Estrella Damm
• Formatges Sant Gil d’Albió
• ⁠Frime
• ⁠Girona coffee
• ⁠Maresmar
• Mas del Senyor Olis
• Pastes Canigó – Joan Vidal i Farrarons
• Perelló
• ⁠Premium Mix Group - Vichy Catalan
• ⁠Raventós Blanc
• ⁠T-Con
• ⁠Valldolina

The event was held at Paradise Plaza, in the Miami Design District, a space of more than 500 m² located in one of the city's emblematic areas. In all, more than 500 professionals attended, including distributors, restaurateurs and catering managers, chefs, journalists and opinion leaders, sommeliers, retailers and representatives of public institutions.

Product display and food showcase

Prodeca's director, Ramon Sentmartí, the Catalan Government Delegate, Isidre Sala, and the representative of ACCIÓ's Miami office, Maria Reig, opened the event, highlighting the economic weight of the Catalan agri-food sector and the opportunities that being present in a market as dynamic as the United States represents for Catalan companies. 

Catalan Food Show Miami featured product displays by the participating companies, as well as a Catalan cooking masterclass led by chef and food writer Alba Sunyer, who has lived in the United States for more than 15 years, with pa amb tomàquet as the star and ambassador of Catalan cuisine. She also led the "Vermouth Experience" session on vermouth and the aperitif, plus a live cooking demonstration for the audience.

Finally, businesswoman and wine importer Núria Garrote, based in the United States since 2010, led a masterclass on Catalan wines to give an insight into the particularities and distinguishing features of Catalan wines, and into Catalonia's land and landscape as a key ingredient in shaping wines with character.

About the US market 

The United States is the world's largest economy and one of the main international players in agri-food. It accounts for 25% of total world production, absorbs 16% of world imports and is the leading exporter (19%) and the main source and recipient of international investment (15%). Private consumption accounts for more than 70% of GDP. 

This makes it a strategic market for the Catalan agri-food sector. It is currently the ninth destination market for Catalan food and drink and the third outside the EU, behind only France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom, China, Poland and the Netherlands. In 2023 Catalonia exported €447M worth of agri-food products through more than 380 regular agri-food exporters. Catalan agri-food exports to the United States have grown 20% in value over the past 5 years and more than 84% over the past decade (78% in volume).

By sector, wine stands out in particular (the US is the second destination market for Catalan wines), vegetable oils (led by olive oil, where the US is the fourth destination market) and Fine Food or multiproduct (the US is the fifth destination market), with cocoa and preparations, vegetable juices and extracts, confectionery, bakery, pastry and biscuit products and cereal-based products among the most exported. 

In 2022, Prodeca launched a strategy to improve the positioning and perceived value of Catalan products in the United States, taking the form of marketing, training and outreach activities and trade events to increase Catalan companies' market share. In September 2022, with the Catalan Food event in New York, Prodeca held a masterclass on estate wines, led by sommelier Lucas Payà, together with a presentation in dialogue format between writer and food expert Colman Andrews and chef and food writer Alba Sunyer, plus a pa amb tomàquet workshop led by chefs Carolina Gómez and Nicolàs Pérez, both based in Washington. In December 2022, a Christmas food workshop was organised in New York with chef Úrsula Disset.

In 2023, Prodeca organised the grouped participation of 20 companies at Festival Napa Valley, in California, and in recent months it has organised several events under the Catalan Food project: Catalan Food Christmas Workshop, in New York and Washington, to help importers of Catalan products connect with retail operators, and a masterclass on Catalan cuisine at Schoolcraft College in Detroit led by chef Alba Sunyer. It has also launched a challenge (#PaAmbTomaquet Challenge) for a group of chefs to present innovative versions of pa amb tomàquet and pass the baton to other chefs, who must in turn submit their own. 

Catalan Food is an international promotion and commercial outreach strategy aimed at increasing the perceived value of Catalan food abroad by giving visibility and momentum to the Catalan companies and products present in strategic international markets such as the United States, China, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom and Nigeria, among others.