Anecoop posts record sales for 2021/22

Anecoop posted a record turnover of €823.6m in 2021/22, an increase of 4.2 per cent on the previous year. Its sales volume decreased by 10 per cent to 759,882 tonnes.

Consolidated turnover for all the companies in the group reached €998m, 0.4 per cent more than in 2020/21 on a flat sales volume of around 1m tonnes.

Presenting the results at the group’s AGM in Valencia on Wednesday, president Alejandro Monzón said they reflected the strength of the cooperative model, coming in what had been an exceptionally difficult year.

He described 2021/22 as a year full of ups and downs, giving uneven results in different products, which in some cases meant growers were not even able to cover their production costs.

“What is clear is that the high prices paid by the consumer do not correspond, generally speaking, to what the producer received as the cost increases in the value chain prevented the grower from receiving a fair payment for his work,” Monzón said.

“A strong and independent national agriculture industry benefits not only us, but future generations. Agriculture must become a profitable option that can favour the generational change that the countryside is asking for.”

Monzón said companies that wish to succeed should focus tirelessly on innovation and the continual improvement of their offer, working towards greater technification and digitisation.

Anecoop’s managing director, Joan Mir, said effective management of the second-degree cooperative grouping had enabled it to deliver record sales to our member cooperatives, with higher prices than in the previous campaign, “which have somehow allowed them to alleviate the significant increase in production costs and the impact of adverse climatic events this year, which in many cases has led to a notable drop in the harvest”.

Mir encouraged members “to continue taking steps towards integration, which can be done without the need to lose their identity”.

He highlighted the examples of Ribercamp, made up of the Sant Bernat de Carlet and Guadacoop (Guadassuar) cooperatives, or the merger of Agrícola del Marquesado de Llombai and San Salvador de Alfarp to create Coalmar, as well as the entry of Alzicoop into Greenfruits, or the incorporation of Almería’s SAT Montivel into Anecoop in March of last year.

Mir also called for more investment in campaigns to promote the benefits of fruits and vegetables “to halt the constant slide in consumption”.

Both Monzón and Mir agreed that despite the record results, the sector faces a highly uncertain future for which reason “we have the obligation to continue with the high guard, working to be increasingly competitive and achieve greater profitability for our partners”.