Supermarkets turn on alerts. The distribution fears that the farmers’ tractor units will cause problems similar to those in March 2022, when a transport strike paralyzed logistics centers throughout Spain and put food distribution in check. Between those concentrations and those of this week there is a similarity: the first fuse has been lit through social networks. Today the concentrations of the professional organizations, Asaja, COAG and UPA, have begun. The same truckers who encouraged the collapse two years ago will also join the strikes in the coming days. Large food stores are already talking about a “perfect storm.”
The problems for supermarkets have so far been located in two parts of the country. In Antequera, Málaga, the biggest problems have occurred, with farmers protesting at the doors of the Mercadona logistics center, a strategic facility for food in southern Spain. In some industrial estates in Valencia there have also been problems in the last few hours.
The food chain is “extraordinarily dependent on transportation,” warned this Thursday Ignacio García Magarzo, general director of the business organization Asedas (Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-service and Supermarkets). The main concern of the entire sector is, therefore, that the protests “get out of control and the cuts and delays of merchandise in these two days become even more complicated,” they add from Anged (National Association of Large Distribution Companies), the other great employer.
The distribution defends that despite the multiple logistical problems in recent years, food companies have “delivered.” “No one has noticed a lack of food,” said Mauricio García de Quevedo, general director of FIAB (Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries), today. They demand freedom to continue doing their work.
Because the food distribution chain cannot do anything if protesters prevent the circulation of goods. That is why yesterday Anged demanded that the Ministry of the Interior “guarantee the free circulation of goods so as not to repeat events like those of 2022.” The police forces already evacuated the Antequera logistics center yesterday. There was one arrest. “The legitimate demands of a sector should not paralyze the activity of the rest of the economy,” defend the supermarkets.
Large consumers also want to defend themselves against accusations of abusive margins that will increase their income statements. “Data kills story,” say the distribution companies, who meet with the Ministry of Agriculture next week, on Wednesday, to analyze the situation. “The cost crisis and the strong regulatory pressure have been suffered by all links in the chain,” Anged points out. García de Quevedo, for his part, has stated today that “the business margins” of the large supermarkets “are not such” and this has been certified by both the CNMC and the Airef. “An increase in turnover does not imply an increase in profits,” he added.
Distribution companies assure that the Spanish food sector is facing the “perfect storm.” They remember the crises of recent years: the problem with the United States due to tariffs, Brexit, the pandemic, Filomena, Ukraine, the Red Sea, the drought, climate change… To them are added fiscal issues that have also increased their costs and In this sense they cite the tax on plastic. “It is unquestionable that we have had an increase in costs,” concluded García de Quevedo, who pointed out that the uncertainty could be even greater in the coming months for Spanish products if Trump wins the elections in the United States.
Anged goes even further: “The entire value chain has gone through a cost crisis aggravated by strong regulatory pressure. In our case it has to do with new taxes (on plastic, on fluorinated gases for food refrigeration, the VAT surcharge on sugary drinks, the increase in social contributions), with the green transition (with strong investments to adapt the circularity, packaging, waste or vehicle recharging points), and with management costs.”
García Madrazo, from Asedas, has claimed that “there are problems that we have to face together” from the entire food chain.
