The executive explains how, at the toughest point of the crisis, giant steps had to be taken to adapt to the situation, but today normality prevails in the day to day workings of the market
How has the first half of the year been for a company like Diego Martínez, for which foreign trade is its strong point?
It has been a very unusual year and we have had to adapt quickly to the new safety measures that were implanted on the premises. In our case, without changing our working pace, which has been constant, we adapted to the technology at top speed, both with clients and with suppliers. Our strong point is that we have all worked together closely for many years, therefore I consider this plunge into technology (videoconferences, telephone, etc.) to be a positive move.
Furthermore, I think that Mercabarna acted very fast at the worst point of the crisis and this gave us a competitive advantage. As was normal, we recorded a strong increase in sales of citrus fruit (oranges and lemons) at the expense of products that are used more in the Horeca channel, such as limes.
Have corridor sales suffered?
In general, I would say that on site sales have suffered, but international sales, the most important area at Diego Martínez, has maintained the same rhythm.
Currently, the tourist season is recording bad results and it does not look like it is going to recover; will this affect your company?
We are lucky that we are not focused on the Horeca channel, but I should mention that the clients we have both in the Canary and the Balearic Islands have dropped their sales exponentially, which is completely understandable because they are destinations where the economy relies heavily on tourism.
How have the typical summer categories, stone fruit, melon and watermelon behaved? What is the supply like?
In stone fruit, we have product and there are no supply problems, but we don’t the same amounts as are normal in other years, and this is becoming evident. The harvest suffered an important hailstorm and it is ahead of its dates, therefore the campaign will be short. Regarding prices, they are correct, but this has not been the case for watermelons or melons.
Will you be present on the Biomarket?
In principle, we won’t be because bio is not a segment we currently are working with, but we are in the middle of the certification process to be able to attend to this demand and we don’t want to be left on the sidelines.
