The Training Area provides businesses in the unit with the opportunity to recruit students who have taken occupational training courses on handling fresh produce as staff interns.

Mercasa and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces organised the 6th National Meeting of Municipal Retail Markets in Madrid on 2 and 3 November. Around 500 professionals attended these seminars to discuss the future of these facilities. The meeting was opened by the minister for the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena Espinosa. More information at: www.mercadosmunicipales.es.

October saw the start of the construction work for the new vehicle exit from the area, which will lead straight onto the Calle F road in the Zona Franca.

Jordi Hereu, mayor of Barcelona and chair of the Zona Franca Consortium, presented the new business platform BZ - Barcelona Zona Innovación on 16 October.

In early October, the Generalitat, the Catalan Autonomous Regional Government, approved the creation of the Catalonia Food and Agriculture Prices Observatory.

Around 200 representatives of wholesale markets from all over the world, including the management of Mercabarna, met in Paris between 23 and 25 September, at the annual conference of the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM).

The hardware store in Mercabarna's commercial area reopened it doors in July under the management of a new owner. The establishment now goes by the name of Suministros Merca and belongs to the Ferbric chain of hardware stores, a company with some 20 shops throughout Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

The ever-popular Joan Pujol, in charge of delivering Mercabarna correspondence and publications to the market's companies, retired at the beginning of July. Thanks to his spirited character and friendly disposition, over the years Joan Pujol has earned the well-deserved recognition and esteem of all the business-owners and workers at Mercabarna.

On 22nd July, Josep Francí, Managing Director of Professional, Artistic and Specialised Training at the Ministry of Education, and Montserrat Gil de Bernabé, Mercabarna's Managing Director, signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of Professional Training (PT) studies in the food sector.

An analysis of the impact the recession is having on the agricultural sector from the viewpoint of the different agents in food production and distribution.