The food industry reaches one of its most relevant events starting tomorrow in Barcelona with the Alimentaria fair
What is your forecast for this edition of Alimentaria?
We face it with great optimism. This is the first edition after the covid in which one hundred percent normality is recovered. First we had the impact of the pandemic, and then there was little international presence, because not all markets had recovered at the same pace, like the Asian ones. Now normality is total and has been reinforced with the alliance between Alimentaria and Hostelco. In food we always put a lot of focus on internationalization, on exhibitors and buyers. But the hospitality industry is a fundamental part of the food and beverage sector. The other main axis of the fair is to provide more value to citizens and that is where innovation comes into play.
What are the trends we will see in food from now on?
Innovation in health, products without sugar, without salt, that are as natural as possible, is a strong vector. Another is convenience, new lifestyles and consumer habits mean that smaller, snackable formats are manufactured that can be cooked quickly. In this sense, years ago there was an explosion of products for microwaves and now for air fryers. Sustainability, both in the origin of raw materials and in packaging, and protein products are other growing trends.
Farmers have staged a large round of protests in Spain and one of their demands is to improve the chain law. They argue that they do not cover their costs while manufacturers and distribution earn more than ever.
The food chain is a very complex issue. We may have problems, but we must be proud of the chain because it works very well. And the demonstration is that during covid Spain was the country with the lowest rate of product shortages. So it is very efficient and with my good products at affordable prices. But there are asymmetries and it does not have the same levels of concentration in all links. That said, there is a huge level of competition and that is the guarantee of a balance of quality and prices.
But the President of the Government himself, Pedro Sánchez, announced a review of the chain’s law. It seems that, in some way, the Executive agrees with the farmers.
Sometimes price formation is not always directly related to costs because some are formed at an international level. It happens with cocoa, rice or cereals. And sometimes some of the links may have problems covering their costs.
Are the fields right in any of their claims?
With these agrarian protests, things are appearing such as farmers being forced to assume costs that other competing markets do not have. They are logical demands. As a sector we are committed to a more sustainable production and distribution system, but sometimes regulation adds an extra cost to the company without meeting its objective in that area. Regulation cannot harm competitiveness and we believe that it is possible to combine both. On the other hand, anything that provides more transparency to the chain and price formation is good, assuming that it is already efficient.
The white label has come a long way and is gaining ground on the distribution label. How is consumption evolving this year?
Consumption is polarized. The distribution brand increases and, at the same time, sales of luxury products or leisure trips increase. The consumer spends on what he wants and saves on what he wants. This is a crisis, so to speak, different from others because the level of employment is good. In food, we come from a year of inflation and it varies a lot if we measure consumption in euros or kilos. In euros, almost everything has gone well. The case of olive oil is paradigmatic. Their sales increase in euros but decrease in kilos, in volume, and losing kilos in the long run reduces the efficiency of the factories. The objective this year is not only to sell more in euros but to recover volumes. Let’s hope that if interest rates are softened this year, there will be more disposable income and therefore consumption will increase. And to promote consumption we need an attractive product offering and a lot of innovation.
Can food inflation now be considered controlled?
There is a lot of uncertainty. Raw material prices are international and need stability. Now there are two factors that generate instability: the climate and geopolitics. If we have fewer harvests due to high temperatures or lack of rain, there will be fewer products on the market and, therefore, prices will rise. We have experienced this situation directly in Spain with olive oil. In terms of geopolitics, the Red Sea crisis may increase transportation costs. Therefore, it seems that inflation is already controlled but these two forces incorporate a lot of volatility.
In recent times we have seen how some distributors, such as Carrefour or Dia, have decided not to sell certain manufacturer brands due to their prices and to promote their own. Will we see more cases like these? Is pressure from distributors on manufacturers increasing?
The sector is constantly changing, both in commercial formats and brands, etc. It is an industry that is extremely close to the consumer and with enormous competition between operators, who always try to offer the best products at the lowest price. Companies adjust in some things and invest in others. The great asset is that the change is permanent and the level of competition makes companies make their own decisions within free negotiation.