Mercadona buys Catalan products worth 4,000 million

Casa Tarradellas, Saplex, Monter, Maverick, Noel, La Selva, WeColors, Pastifred and You Cosmetics are some of Mercadona's main supplier companies in Catalonia. The distribution group of the Roig family, however, has diversified its Catalan supplier base enormously in recent years, to the point of weaving a network of 200 companies that supply it with some type of product. These companies, in parallel, also have their raw material suppliers, with a total of 1,700 SMEs spread across the different Catalan regions.

According to Mercadona, in 2020 the volume of purchases made in Catalonia was 3,981 million euros, in a year marked by the pandemic that has been a real challenge for both the chain and its network of suppliers. In addition to working with large meat companies such as Casa Tarradellas or Noel, Mercadona is also a client of the Cooperativa de Ivars d'Urgell, from which it has bought 5.3 million kilos of veal.

In the agricultural sector, the 57.5 million kilos of fruit acquired by the chain from companies in Lleida and Girona such as Catafruit, Nufri, Golden Export, Girona Fruits, Frutícola Empordà or Fruits de Ponent stand out. In parallel, the Hacendado milk sold by the brand in Catalonia is packaged in a plant located in Vidreres owned by Làctia Agroalimentària, a company controlled by the Andalusian group Covap and by Lleters de Catalunya. The Valencian group has also bought 2.7 million kilos of fresh fish from the Catalan coast and 8 million kilos of rice from the Ebro Delta to supply its network of stores.

Mercadona now has a workforce of 14,615 people in Catalonia, with an increase of 1,035 jobs compared to the previous year. Its network consists of 250 stores, a figure that remains stable, as the company now does not prioritize new openings but rather the remodeling of existing ones to make them more energy efficient. It also opts for relocating some of the establishments. Thus, last year the chain opened six new stores, but five of them were relocations, meaning five old stores were closed. Now 64% of the network, 159 points of sale, has already been reformed with the new efficient store model, which allows for up to a 40% reduction in energy savings. The forecast is that all will have been remodeled by 2023.

In total, in 2020 Mercadona invested 140 million euros in Catalonia in the opening of six stores, in the renovation of 21, in the launch of the new section of ready-to-eat meals to go, and in the improvement of its logistics warehouses in Abrera, Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, and Sant Esteve Sesrovires. In addition, the group has opened a logistics platform in the Zona Franca focused on the preparation and dispatch of online orders.

The distribution group closed 2020 with record revenues of 26,932 million euros, and profits rose by 17%, to 727 million. It now has more than 1,641 supermarkets.