“Barcelona has become Spain’s food industry capital, in which Mercabarna and the Municipal Markets play a fundamental role.” With these words Jordi William Carnes, Barcelona’s deputy mayor with responsibility for Finance and Economic Promotion and chair of Mercabarna defined the city’s role in the overall Spanish agro-food sector at a function held during the Alimentaria trade fair on 12 March.

Mr Carnes presided over an event that included representatives of wholesale and retail business owners and the media at the stand Barcelona City Hall shared with Mercabarna and the Barcelona Markets.
Jordi Maymó, managing director of Mercabarna; Jordi Torrades, director of the Municipal Markets Institute; and Montserrat Gil de Bernabé, president of Prodeca and future managing director of Mercabarna, also attended the event, as did the chairs and directors of Mercabarna’s wholesale business associations, the chairs of the merchants associations of the Municipal Markets and numerous sector professionals.

Catalonia: Spain’s leading food industry cluster

The deputy mayor announced that Catalonia is now Spain’s leading food industry cluster. This is because it contributes most to the overall food sector both in turnover (21%) and employment rate (24%).
Mr Carnes pointed out that a key factor here is the ‘symbiosis’ between Mercabarna and Barcelona’s 46 municipal markets. He also stressed the capacity of Mercabarna’s firms to adapt to new consumer needs, which means added value for the products.

Mercabarna’s turnover grows 3.9%

During the event, the Mercabarna chair presented the company’s balance for 2007. Mercabarna closed the financial year with a turnover increase of 3.9%.
Operation results reached 5.97 millions euros, a 19.9% rise over 2006.