Mercabarna has overtaken Rungis to become Europe’s leading wholesale market for fruits and vegetables. The market will once again be exhibiting at this year’s Fruit Attraction trade fair in Madrid
“Having surpassed every other European market we now want to position ourselves as a specialist logistics centre handling the import and export of perishable foods, products that require special care and fast and efficient handling and transportation,” said Josep Tejedo, the market’s managing director.
He pointed out that the wholesale market’s proximity to Barcelona and its airport, port and its excellent road and rail links makes it the ideal location for a logistics platform serving European markets. Unlike many other markets, Mercabarna operates a normal daytime schedule. The site also houses an extensive complementary activity zone containing companies providing value-added services including processing, packaging, transport and distribution services.
Approximately 1.7m tonnes of fruits and vegetables are sold in the market each year. Of this, 36 per cent is imported directly by companies housed within Mercabarna who also account for 25 per cent of fresh produce exports.
Last year the market authorities created the Mercabarna Export Cluster, an initiative that encourages companies already exporting – or who wish to begin doing so – to jointly develop key strategies to drive overseas sales.
Among the activities planned for the next two years are research into new markets, a planned study on how to improve road, sea and air links from the market, participation in various trade fairs and the organisation of trade missions to key countries.
A number of companies in the Export Cluster already ship to countries such as Germany and France and are looking to expand their presence there, while also studying the possibility of accessing new markets in northern Africa, the Middle East and even China.
