Catalonia leads agri-food exports, with sales of almost 13,000 million, up 12%

Maximum satisfaction among food exporting companies in Catalonia. Despite the pandemic and various geopolitical threats, in 2021 another export record has been broken and, for the first time, turnover has exceeded 12,000 million euros. Specifically, Catalonia has exported food worth 12,878 million euros, which represents an increase of 12.34% compared to 2020.

Despite the pandemic, this growth rate doubles that registered in 2020 (+6%) and exceeds the increase accounted for in terms of volume, that is, in the number of kilos exported, with a growth of 10%. "We are growing more in euros than in kilos," said this Monday the managing director of Prodeca, Ramon Sentmartí, who highlighted the competitiveness of the Catalan agri-food sector and the fact that the export proposal is based not so much on price but on the quality of the products marketed.

The good performance of the sector can be seen by analyzing the evolution of business volume in the last ten years. Thus, the nearly 13,000 million in 2021 represent a growth of 86% compared to 2011, that is, the value of exported food has practically doubled. In kilos exported, the increase in the last decade has been 53%.

Prodeca, the agency for the promotion of Catalan food dependent on the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, assures that for the second consecutive year Catalonia is positioned as the main exporting community of agri-food products in Spain, surpassing Andalusia. Catalonia's weight in the total Spanish food exports is 21.78%. In addition, the growth rate of 12.34% achieved in 2021 is above the state average (+10.7%).

Another very significant fact that demonstrates the strength of the sector is that for the third consecutive year Catalonia has a trade surplus, that is, it exports more food than it imports (10,832 million), with a coverage rate of 118.88%.

In general terms, the food sector consolidates itself as the main economic engine of Catalonia, generating 38,205 million euros, equivalent to 16% of Catalan GDP, and 166,000 direct jobs. "We are a tremendous economic power and we have an agri-food sector that has shown its resilience despite the pandemic, the energy crisis or geopolitical factors such as Brexit," said the Secretary of Food of the Generalitat, Carmel Mòdul. Thus, in this first year of Brexit, Catalan companies have increased their sales to the United Kingdom by 8.24%, six points more than the previous year, exporting for a value of 615.20 million euros.

The agri-food sector is the third largest exporting economic sector in Catalonia, behind semi-manufactures and capital goods. Currently, in Catalonia there are 2,745 agri-food companies that export regularly, 24% of all those in Spain. France remains the main client for Catalan food in the foreign market (21% of the total) and, since 2019, China is the second largest destination (14%), followed by Italy (10%). The countries where the largest increases in sales have been registered in the last year are the Philippines (+245%), Korea (+95%) and Morocco (+75%).

Meat sales to China fall by 23%

Catalan success in China has been closely linked to pork exports, although in the last year sales of this product to the Asian giant have fallen by 23%, as the country has reduced demand after overcoming the outbreak of swine fever it suffered. Even so, Catalan livestock farmers and meat companies have managed to diversify markets and redirect lower sales to China towards other Asian countries. In this sense, in 2021, meat sales to the Philippines soared by 156%, to South Korea by 143%, to Taiwan by 114% and to Japan by 25%. Thanks to these alternative markets, the value of Catalan meat exports has been able to maintain itself, with a growth of 0.17%.

More dynamic has been the increase in sales experienced by fruit (+11%), vegetable oils (+42%) and wine and cava (19%). Another key subsector for Catalan agri-food is the so-called fine foods (+18%), which includes a wide variety of products, from snacks to biscuits, including chocolate, sweets, nuts, rice, legumes, honey, coffee and infusions. Specifically, meat worth 4,596 million has been exported, wines and cavas for 620 million, fruits and vegetables for 1,089 million and 3,610 million has been reached in fine foods and multi-product. All subsectors have grown, both in euros and in volume.