Food Fair 2026: The world goes to be full of Spanish merchandise | Opinion | EUROtoday

This week I walked for 3 days via the halls of Alimentaria 2026 on the Fira de Barcelona. I’ve not gone on commerce honest tourism: I’ve targeted on visiting Spanish corporations to find merchandise, packaging, flavors and, above all, to take the actual pulse of the nationwide export potential. The query that has been with me for years stays the identical: why is the world not stuffed with Spanish merchandise, provided that their high quality is improbable and their flavors distinctive? Well, at present I can say with actual proof that that’s going to alter. And within the brief time period.

Those who learn me repeatedly know that I typically discuss knots to untie, dangers to be careful for, and errors that value cash. It’s a part of the occupation: diagnose earlier than prescribing. However, this time I wish to break the behavior. What I carry from Alimentaria is nice information. Very good. And at a time when sharing optimistic proof is extra precious than mentioning what’s fallacious. Maybe extra, as a result of excellent news instructed effectively evokes motion.

80% of the producers I’ve visited are able to exit into the world. They have invested time, cash and rigor in acquiring the certifications that open worldwide doorways: IFS, BRC, FDA, natural, kosher, halal. The thought of ​​limiting oneself to supplying the nationwide market was, for the primary time in my expertise, the exception. That, in a rustic the place “we are already doing well here” had been the default response, is a change of mentality that’s price greater than any subsidy.

It has crammed me with pleasure to see that the establishments are doing their half. ICEX Spain Exportation and Investment has known as on patrons from the primary retail chains from completely different nations, particularly the United States, led by Jeffrey Shaw, ICEX delegate in New York. International importers and distributors walked via the halls with full agendas. They weren’t courtesy visits: they got here to do enterprise. When the establishments do their bridge work effectively and the businesses have the product so as, the honest turns into a hiring desk.

And then there’s the quarry. Start-ups which can be born with a global vocation from minute zero. Tacho, a candy pistachio cream that’s merely addictive: the form of product you try to assume “how come this didn’t exist before?” Libertine Bends, a mission of two sisters who’ve developed a line of ready cocktails, with and with out alcohol, with a high quality and design that established manufacturers already need. The most revealing factor: each manufacturers don’t plan to overcome Spain first after which go overseas. Their plan is to provide immediately for worldwide markets. This change of chip, if consolidated, is revolutionary.

I’ve additionally noticed the reverse phenomenon: international funding that chooses Spain as a platform. Franui, the Argentine model identified for its chocolate-dipped raspberries, has arrange store in our nation to domestically reproduce a South American success story and develop from right here to all of Europe. That worldwide corporations see in Spain not solely a client market but additionally a continental manufacturing base says quite a bit concerning the second we reside in. Spain is not only a vacation spot; It turns into a springboard.

And, if there’s a product that particularly touched my fiber, it was olive oil. More than 100 initiatives have been current on the honest, with worldwide recognition, a spectacular tasting of types and packaging designs that lastly reside as much as what they include. Spain produces about 45% of the world’s olive oil, in response to the International Olive Oil Council. Spain is the biggest producer on the planet. And but, for many years, others had been tolerated to purchase oil in bulk, bundle it below their flag, and take away the popularity and the margin. Spanish oil has been the engine; The steering wheel and the applause have gone to others. Well that is over. Own manufacturers, highly effective designations of origin, subtle narrative and a high quality that speaks for itself.

Many would assume that geopolitical tensions, Trump tariffs and regulatory partitions would paralyze all this. Operational expertise demonstrates the other. Life goes on, customers reward high quality and the patrons who visited Alimentaria keep their dedication to bringing their prospects the most effective out there, as a result of the merchandise communicate for themselves. Behind the headlines there are exemptions, reclassifications, guidelines of origin and bilateral agreements that, labored with methodology, considerably scale back the actual influence. He who operates with knowledge and self-discipline navigates the storm; Whoever is guided by headlines, stays in port.

Spain has earlier than it a historic alternative. The product is there, the standard is indeniable, the certifications are so as, the export need is actual and the establishments are pushing. If we cease promoting in nameless drums, Spanish merchandise will showcase their title and margin on any shelf in Chicago, Tokyo or São Paulo.

It’s not poetry: it is accounting. And, after what we noticed this week in Barcelona, ​​I’m sure that they are going to arrive. And they are going to arrive quickly.