Catalonia reaffirms itself as one of the leading autonomous communities in the production and elaboration of products certified as organic, one of the most dynamic segments within the agri-food industry. This is a sector that in the community already invoices more than 700 million euros and registers growth above the Spanish average.
In 2019, the area of organic production in Catalonia increased by 8.91%, compared to the 4.8% growth registered in Spain as a whole. The number of operating companies experienced an increase of 7.49%, also above the national average (6.4%), according to data compiled by the Consell Català de la Producció Agrària Ecològica, CCPAE.
In the Catalan regions, there are now 229,608 hectares dedicated to sustainable crops or those that do not use any type of chemical treatment, more than triple that of ten years ago. This represents 9.75% of the total Spanish organic surface, placing the community in third position in the ranking, behind Andalusia (more than one million hectares) and Castilla-La Mancha.
On the contrary, Catalonia occupies the first position on the podium in the number of processors (25% of the total), with 1,326 companies, and in the number of marketing companies (594, 26% of the total). It is also the community with the most importing companies of organic food, with 112 operators, 22% of the total.
If this business classification also includes livestock companies, vegetable producers, and exporters, Catalonia occupies the third position (19.86% of the total), also behind Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha.
By type of crop, Catalonia is number one in hectares dedicated to organic fruit production (1,396 hectares) and fodder. It is the second community in vineyards (18,632 hectares).
In organic meat production, it ranks second (behind Andalusia), with 971 livestock farms. It is a leader in the organic poultry and rabbit farming segments and second in organic beef and goat meat. In total, in 2019 Catalonia produced 1,291 tons of organic meat, behind Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, and Galicia.
In the field of agri-food industry and processing of organic products, Catalan companies lead the production of organic beverages (it has 273 organic wineries) and meat products.