Catalan fruit companies take part in Fruit Logistica

PRODECA has organised the joint participation of Catalan fruit sector companies at Fruit Logistica, held in Berlin from 5 to 7 April 2022. It is Europe's most important fair for fruit and vegetables and a meeting point for the industry, bringing the sector's entire supply chain together in a single event, giving a global view of the market, new trends and products, and making it the ideal place to build trade relations.

A Lleida TV crew accompanied the Catalan companies at Fruit Logistica and saw first hand how they approached their participation:

Catalan companies' presence

This year's edition features 21 Catalan companies and organisations linked to the fruit sector, 14 of them under the agri-food brand "Catalonia, where fruit is culture" on the stand organised by PRODECA – Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda. The Catalan companies at Fruit Logistica cover every family of fruit production: stone fruit, pome fruit and citrus, as well as distribution companies such as Mercabarna, research bodies such as IRTA, and institutions such as the Catalan Integrated Production Council. 

To show institutional support for Catalan companies and the fruit sector, one of the most important and strategic for the country's agri-food economy, a visit to the fair was arranged for the Secretary for Food at the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Carmel Mòdol, accompanied by PRODECA's managing director, Ramon Sentmartí, and the Catalan Government Delegate to Germany, Marie Kapretz. As well as meeting the companies taking part under the "Catalonia, where fruit is culture" brand, they visited the other Catalan companies exhibiting on their own stands.

Catalan companies taking part in Fruit Logistica 2022: 

• ABELLA FRUITS 
• AFRUCAT
• CAL ROGET
• CATALAN INTEGRATED PRODUCTION COUNCIL 
• COPA FRESH 
• FRUILAR SAT 197 
• FRUITES FONT
• FRUTAS DIEGO MARTÍNEZ E HIJOS
• IGP POMA DE GIRONA - GIROPOMA
• IRTA
• LAUMONT
• MERCABARNA
• SANDO CLEMENTINE
• SAT PLA D'ESCARP Nº 1235

A major farming sector in Catalonia 

Fresh fruit is a strategic sector for Catalonia's agri-food economy, both for its relative importance in production and for its weight in internationalisation. 

With 106,189 hectares devoted to fruit growing and output of almost a million tonnes of fruit a year (962,201), according to 2020 figures, Catalonia is one of the leading sweet fruit growing areas in Europe and worldwide:

• Spain's largest apple producer
• Europe's largest peach and nectarine producer
• 9th largest peach and nectarine producer worldwide 
• 18th largest pear producer worldwide 

Catalan fruit and vegetable exports

On exports, the fruit and vegetable sector (according to the Prodeca index) was the third largest agri-food export sector in both value and volume in 2021. Catalonia exports 85% of its fruit (relative to output) to foreign markets and is present in the most demanding European and international chains in terms of quality, traceability and food safety.

Compared with 2020, fruit export value rose 11.24% and volume 3.99%, raising the value-to-volume export ratio by 6.97%.

In 2021 Catalonia exported 71% of Spain's total apple exports, 56% of pears, 43% of peaches and 34% of nectarines.

Over the last five years (2016-2021) fruit exports have grown 27.26% in value while volume has fallen 2.28%. These two figures show that we are adding value to our fruit in international markets, with a 30.23% increase in the export value-to-volume ratio.

Over the last five years, the number of regular fruit and vegetable exporters has grown 16.60%, from 494 in 2016 to 576 companies in 2021.

The European Union is the natural market for Catalan 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.