Catalonia has reached its record for agri-food exports in 2022, close to 15,000 million euros, with 14,849 million. According to data from the Generalitat’s Promotora dels aliments catalans (Prodeca), one out of every seven euros that Catalonia exports (15.64%) are from the agri-food sector. And one in four Spanish products that are exported is Catalan.
The active and dynamic Catalan agri-food sector has demonstrated its resilience “in the context of international instability, the increase in inflation and the price of food and energy”. And the incidence of geopolitical and economic turbulence is recognized. It is added that “the agri-food sector has been consolidated as the engine of the Catalan economy”, and that it has reinforced its driving role in all Catalan exports.
Currently, Catalonia’s agri-food sales abroad are equivalent to 6.47% of its GDP. Catalonia exports food and beverages to 198 countries and the number of regular Catalan exporting companies increased by 4.69%. The EU continues to be the recipient of practically half of the exports (55.85%), with a growth of 20%.
The minister for Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Generalitat, Teresa Jordà, believes that the sector has no ceiling and that there is a way to “work even more and with much determination to ensure its competitiveness”. In this sense he added that “the sector must count more euros than kilos”.
The Secretary for Food of the Generalitat, Carmel Mòdol, stated that the sector “is very dynamic and exports strongly”, and added that “it is a strategic leg of our economy”. For his part, the managing director of Prodeca, Ramon Sentmartí, stated that “Catalonia is an export power in food and beverages above countries such as Portugal, Greece, Peru, Colombia, Sweden or Japan”. Despite this, it is stated that awareness of consuming local products is growing.
All the agri-food sectors grew in value with the exception of the fruit and orchard sector (-4.35%). The sectors registering the highest growth are vegetable oils (42%), cereals and milling (21%) and fine food or multi-product (18%). The most exporting sectors continue to be meat and fine food, which respectively represent 35% and 29%.
Minister Jordà has taken advantage of the presentation of the Prodeca data to demand that the Ministry of Agriculture “clarify” a Law on waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy with which she “absolutely disagrees”. Jordà regretted that “the day-to-day life of a key sector such as livestock is ignored” and that “Madrid legislates with its back to the sector”.
Vegetable oils occupy the third position, ousted from fruit and orchards, which become the fourth export sector. In this segment, olive oil stands out, representing 36% of the business value of this sector and increasing 39% in value and 12% in volume, positively influenced by sales to the US, where Catalonia has managed to recover leadership positions in the oil market after overcoming the effects of tariffs.
Cereals and milling decreased in volume (-11%) due to the lack of cereals as a result of the conflict in Ukraine: the little cereal that is normally exported has been used, in general, for self-consumption. Likewise, they increase the value by 21% due to the increase in seed sales, which represent more than 77% of the thickness of the exports of the cereal and milling industry, both in value (77%) and in volume (77%). . The fish and shellfish sector consolidated the upward trend and grew for the second consecutive year (14% in value and 15% in volume).
The wine and cava sector grows as a whole by 2% in value, despite a 3% decrease in volume (the decrease in average volume in the EU has been 9%, highlighting the falls of 10% in France and a 7% in Italy). Cava, for its part, is consolidated as the driving force of the sector with 50% of the value and 55% of the volume exported, and grows 5% in value and 7% in volume. Wine, on the other hand, decreased by 3% in value and 17% in volume due to the drop in the two main destination markets, the United Kingdom and the US, which represent more than 28%.
Catalonia also maintained its agri-food trade surplus last year, achieved for the first time in 2019, standing at a coverage rate of 105%. According to Prodeca, this has been, in part, “thanks to the improvement in efficiency and competitive improvement of companies in the sector.” Catalonia once again led foreign agri-food trade in Spain in 2022, exporting food above the average for the national group (13%) and for the European Union as a whole (12%). Sales of Catalan agri-food products abroad during 2022 represented almost a quarter of total agri-food exports from Spain (22%).
