In spite of being a producing country, the Spanish market is highly appetising for both French and Italian productions, which are consolidating their brand awareness through widely varying promotions.
One of every two apples eaten in Spain is imported, as is shown in a fruit monitoring study on the shop shelves “National apples and pears vs. imported apples and pears on the main Spanish chains” carried out at the beginning of 2016 by Afrucat in Lerida, Zaragoza, Barcelona and Madrid.
Despite continuous variety renewal and the new, competitive national plantations, virtually half of the apples sold in Spanish stores are imported, 44% compared to 53% of nationally-grown fruit. This figure represents a decline in Spanish fruit compared to the same study carried out in the previous year, when imported apples reached a figure of 38%.
The analysis also shows that one chain is using a differentiated strategy in its own stores in terms of their geographical locations. In this case, a greater awareness may be observed in the stores located in the production areas or close to them. In general, there are more Spanish-grown apples in the chains located in Lerida, followed by stores in Barcelona and Zaragoza, and Madrid is the area selling least nationally-grown fruit (40%).
In the words of Manel Simon, general manager of Afrucat, “we are at a crucial economic moment for fruit-growing, with a good production that is highly competitive. It is the moment to promote our fruit in the same way at the rest of Europe does”.
From the Pip Fruit Committee at Fepex, consumers are repeatedly being asked to demand Spanish-grown fruit at points of sale along with brands that support the production. Greater awareness is also being called for in all the chains, which have not yet committed themselves to supporting the Spanish production areas and their local economies.
Afrucat represents 57% of Spanish pear production, 65% of apple production and 35% of stone fruit. The Association encompasses around 100 producing companies with 10,000 workers, 45,000 hectares over several Autonomous Regions, mainly Catalonia and Aragon and 1,000 million kilos of fruit, amongst which are included peaches, nectarines, pears, apples, cherries, plums, apricots and flat peaches.
