The meeting was headed by Jordi William Carnes, Mercabarna president and Barcelona’s deputy mayor with responsibility for Finance and Economic Promotion, Leandre Serra, GMP president, and Casimiro Llorens, AGEM president. One of the highlights was the preparation of two Christmas menus based on fish, seafood and seasonal fruit, which cost 13 and 15 euros respectively.

For this Christmas season, Mercabarna’s president and the representatives from the wholesaler associations recommended consumers ‘shop around’. In Mr Carnes’s words, “We should have an unbiased approach when buying and consider the different varieties and qualities available in the markets. Let’s compare prices, and, most importantly, not leave purchases till the last moment.”

The associations forecast a market volume similar to last year, with over 35,000 tonnes of fresh fruit and 6,000 tonnes of fish, and announced that the prices of star products will not undergo substantial increases.
In the case of fish and seafood, the GMP president announced that the prices of typical Christmas products might drop by up to 20%.

According to Mr Serra, this would be made possible “thanks to the effort of fishermen, wholesalers and retailers to reduce profit margins.” As regards fruit and vegetables, the AGEM president suggested a possible change in consumer preferences. “The economic downturn won’t spoil Christmas meals, but it will change certain habits. People are going to be eyeing prices more and opting for national produce,” Mr Llorena predicted.