The Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, Carlos Cabanas, today stressed the importance of the food industry in Spain, where more than 900,000 farms, and an industry that employs over 2.5 million people. A sector, said, that has become one of the main engines of Spanish exports, assuming 17% of the foreign sector, and has placed Spain as eighth largest exporter of agricultural products in the world.
This line has underlined the exponential growth of agricultural trade between Spain and China in recent years, Spanish exports to reach a record 658 million euros in 2014. A trend that has been accentuated throughout 2015, growing more than 30% of sales in the first half of the year and making China the second client of our exports outside the EU, after the US.
This was discussed during his speech at the Third Summit on Strategies for Health and Food Safety held in Beijing, which involved, in addition to Spain and the host country, high-level delegations of the major food-producing countries in the world : United States, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the European Commission, the World Bank, FAO and major multinational groups of food and agriculture.
Food security for a growing population
In this forum, Cabanas has drawn attention to the importance of ensuring a healthy and sufficient food for a growing number and changing consumer habits of world population. By improving disposable income, it stated, people are demanding more protein and more varied foods, development of which China is the best example, since it has been able to get out of poverty 800 million people in the last twenty years.
To this end, the Secretary General stressed the importance of technological improvement in production and food processing, incorporating young people into the field, and the promotion of international cooperation to make trade between countries more fluid and safe, while the health of the products is guaranteed.
He also stressed the willingness of Spain to collaborate with China in the project of the Silk Road as a means to promote trade between Asia and Europe and to develop the entire region.
An area of cooperation, concluded Cabanas, which will result in increased food security, contribute to boost rural development and, ultimately, growth and well-being of our nations.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture of Spain
