Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) has presented a socioeconomic impact study for the 2022 fiscal year, which shows that the company has contributed to the Catalan economy by generating 990 million euros in added value. This figure represents 0.4% of Catalan GDP, according to the report prepared by the consulting firm Steward Redqueen. Of the total value, 100 million are generated directly by Coca-Cola and the rest through its clients and suppliers.
As explained by the Vice President of Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability, Esther Morillas, during a visit to the Martorelles plant (Barcelona), the company's activity is generating direct and indirect employment for more than 15,000 people in Catalonia. Specifically, the company has 829 direct employees and 14,812 indirect employees. "Coca-Cola contributes to boosting local economies," Morillas emphasizes. The executive recalled that the group in Catalonia has 2,500 suppliers and reaches more than 42,000 clients, reports ACN. Nationally, Coca-Cola generated an added value of 6,257 million euros in 2022.
Last year, the multinational sold nearly 442 million liters of beverages in Catalonia; 2,920 million liters in Spain as a whole. This year, the American brand celebrates the 70th anniversary of its arrival in the Spanish market, precisely, through Catalonia. Specifically, the first bottle of Coca-Cola was manufactured on March 31, 1953, in a plant located on Almogàvers street in Barcelona.
Today, production in Catalonia is concentrated in the Martorelles factory, which employs 370 people and produces more than 270 references. This plant, inaugurated in 2006, has 11 lines equipped with innovative technologies and has a maximum production capacity of more than 870 million liters per year. In these facilities, the group chaired and led by businesswoman Sol Daurella produces 50,000 glass bottles per hour on a single line and around 96,000 cans.
During the visit, it was explained that the company continues with its strategic sustainability plan with actions in environmental matters. In this regard, the most significant novelty is that the plant has recently been verified as carbon neutral. Regarding water management, the Catalan factory continues with the strategy of reducing, recovering, regenerating, and returning. As explained by the factory director, Manel Mogollón, the project for the regeneration of the Can Fenosa lagoons and the creation of a biological connector "has allowed 96 million liters of water to be returned."
Morillas highlighted the increasing use of new technologies that "have helped in the digital transformation and in the commitment to environmental sustainability" while making the factory very efficient in all its processes. The Martorelles production complex also houses one of Coca-Cola's three NXT LABs in Europe. It is an innovation hub to boost the company's digital transformation.