At the 7 November board meeting of the Mercabarna Concessionaires’ Association (Assocome), Mercabarna management presented Food Unit business representatives with the new project that Mercabarna hopes to run over the next few years: the Mediterranean Food Hub.
To commemorate its 25th anniversary, the Mercabarna Training Area held an interesting conference on “How to Motivate Company Staff” on 21 November. Some forty businesspeople and human-resources managers from Mercabarna firms attended the event, where the training courses to be offered in 2013 were also presented.
The Catalan associations and organisations in the Confederation of Ornamental Horticulture of Catalonia (CHOC), which includes Mercabarna-flor and the Wholesale Business Association (AEM), have sent a joint letter to the Spanish Ministries of Finance, Economy and Agriculture expressing their concern about the rise in VAT applied to floral produce and live plants. The sales tax on these goods has catapulted from 8% to 21%.
Farmer Joan Domènech undertook a risky experiment a couple of years ago. He turned part of his land at Sant Joan Despí over to planting Chinese green beans, a variety similar to our own slender green beans but which are much longer and very popular amongst the Chinese.
Mercabarna companies donated over 8% more fresh produce to the Food Bank in the first half of 2012 than the same period last year. Altogether, 243,923 kg of fruit and vegetables were contributed, along with 2,149 kg of fish.
Mercabarna promoted its range of educational activities targeted at children at a show organised by the Barcelona Pedagogic Coordination Board, presenting the Schoolchildren’s Activities Programmes for the 2012-13 school year.
The Barcelona Food Cluster Association, the organisation spearheaded by Mercabarna, organised the day-long symposium “First Foodservice Suppliers’ and Distributors’ Session”, together with ACC1Ó, on 17 July.
On 19 July Mercabarna received the visit of Mercasa chair Eduardo Ameijide, who has headed the institution since March.
On 25 June, the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, visited Mercabarna for the launch of a pioneering system in the world of frozen fruit and vegetables which has been set up by the company Cutting’s, a firm located in the complex and specialising in the distribution of freshly-cut fruit and vegetables for the hotel, restaurant and café channel.
On 22 June, Mercabarna and the Catalan Institute of Cuisine Foundation (FICC) signed a cooperation agreement to work on the campaign “Catalan Cuisine World Heritage: Candidacy 2013”.
