The good reputation of Spanish food is also reflected in the remarkable growth in exports of agri-food products. Thanks to the international projection of this industry, the country entered the record figure of 69,066 million euros last year, 86% more than a decade ago. Despite the good data, the impact of the drought on the sector should not be overlooked, since “it is the most important challenge” it faces, admits Elisa Carbonell, brand new CEO of Icex , public entity in charge of promoting the internationalization of Spanish companies.
In this context, the technology applied to agriculture – agrotech – and to food and drinks – foodtech – is increasingly gaining prominence. Carbonell affirms that, in order to remain one of the main global powers in the export of agri-food products, “we must be a leader in the foodtech field”. A subsector in which Spain, he adds, starts with an advantage due to “the diversity and decentralization” of the food industry, which in other countries “is usually very focused in some focus or in the big capitals”.
Specifically, Spain has 420 startups, twenty technology centers and 50 universities that participate in research and innovation projects. The potential of the foodtech ecosystem, argues Carbonell, is reflected in the fact that it is “one of the sectors that has suffered the least from the adjustment of investments” in a global context of regulatory uncertainty and interest rate hikes that has cut global investment in foodtech by 60%. In contrast, Spanish startups raised more than 226 million last year in different rounds, which, however, represents a year-on-year drop of 15.7%. The country ranked fifth in foodtech investment in 2022, after the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Although the pace of investment has fallen, the number of startups is still growing, but at a moderate pace, and the sector is still diversifying. Carbonell emphasizes the role played by the Desafía programs as a lever towards the internationalization of this class of companies, since those who go through them “generally grow in power”. The program consists of two weeks of immersion in leading ecosystems. In the foodtech subsector, the initiative has been carried out in the Netherlands and two more programs are planned in Germany and London, in which groups made up of 10 startups will participate.
Catalonia is the community where the majority of emerging companies that have participated in this initiative come from, around forty, of which 16 have raised 21.6 million in total. In the case of foodtech, for example, Heura stands out, which since 2017 has been offering plant-based meat products made from legumes and is present in twenty countries. “Catalonia is a vital focus of trends, because it is anticipated a lot and has positioned itself as a pole for the development of alternative protein, also due to the dynamism of the Catalan meat sector”, elucidates the CEO of the Icex, dependent on the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise.
According to the data that this body works with, the Catalan community was the one that exported the most food last year, ahead of Andalusia. Specifically, the export of agri-food products reached 13,919 million, 43% more than in 2019. “The evolution in recent years has been excellent”, remarks Carbonell, while affirming that “Catalonia is the export engine of Spain”, followed by Andalusia, the Valencian Community and Murcia. Pork, fresh pine nuts, chorizo, ham and other cured products lead the ranking of Catalan exports.
On the other hand, in Spain as a whole, fruit vegetables, olive oil, frozen pork and citrus fruits are the most popular. The main export destinations beyond the EU are the United States, Latin America and the United Kingdom, a country where Brexit funds have managed to increase food industry exports to double digits – by 12% – between 2021 and 2023.
“The image that existed thirty years ago that cheap products were sold in Spain has been overcome by extraordinary and very diverse products”, comments Carbonell, so he considers that the statements in which former French minister Ségolène Royal qualified tomatoes “False and inedible” organic Spanish products are “the results of a hot moment due to its own internal problems, and which is countered with the data: Spain is the first organic producer in Europe”, with a strong international commitment to gourmet product to continue generating added value in an industry that represents 5% of GDP.
