The Minister of Agriculture, Miguel Arias Cañete, has promised to eliminate obstacles to export sales and to boost promotion.
"I wished to acquaint myself with those problems so that the government can eliminate barriers to exports, facilitate the promotion of Spanish products internationally and give the fruit and vegetables sector more chances for development in the future," said Arias Cañete.
After visiting the premises of the firm Socomo, horticultural subsidiary of the Carrefour Group, at the Valencian town of Villanueva de Castellón, the Minister defined the fruit and vegetables sector as "dynamic."
He said that Spain "is destined to play a leadership role in this area due to the quality of our products and the ability of our companies to establish themselves in the international markets."
The Minister will also visit the premises of the Anecoop group of cooperatives in Museros, Valencia, which next to Socomo are, according to Arias Cañete, the two largest traders and exporters offruit and vegetables in Spain."
"They are two different models of economic activity, very dynamic; one cooperative and another linked to a large distribution business group and I had the greatest interest in getting to know the difficulties they are facing to export fruits and vegetables to the international and emerging markets," he insisted.
Arias Cañete explained that the visit is part of the framework of a government action seeking, among other things, to modify the Spanish legislation to facilitate cooperative integration to create associations "which can concentrate supply and compete with the larger distributors."
Furthermore, he explained that this forms part of the internationalisation and promotion plans for agro-food exports, which the government plans to introduce next year.
Source: EFE