Spanish supermarkets appear to be heeding calls from the fruit and vegetable industry to support local production, with a study carried out by Catalonian fruit association Afrucat showing that the proportion of apples and pears sold at retail in Spain that are home grown is on the rise.
The research reveals that 38 per cent of apples and 5 per cent of pears on sale in leading supermarkets in Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Lleida last year were imported. This was a lower percentage than in 2011, when Afrucat carried out the first survey of this kind.
However, there was a marked difference in the strategies employed by different retailers and even between differing stores belonging to the same chain. The research shows that stores located in or close to major production zones showed a stronger bias towards domestically-grown fruit. In Lleida, for example, an average of 80 per cent of the apples sold were Spanish, while in Barcelona and Zaragoza this percentage fell to 60 per cent and in Madrid it only half of the apples sold were produced in Spain.
Seven of the supermarkets surveyed said Spanish apples accounted for around 90 per cent of total sales. These were Bon área, Bon Preu, Caprabo, Eroski, Esclat, Plusfresc, Supercor, Carrefour, Hipercor, El Corte Inglés and Dia. In four of these, almost 100 per cent of apples were grown in Spain.
Afrucat, together with a number of grower unions has urged Spanish consumers to buy home-grown produce to in order to assist the local economy. It is also calling on retailers to do more to support local growers by prioritising national production.
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