Marked by inflation, the Christmas shopping window arrives with wholesale firms seeing a lift in sales. Consumer behavior mirrors pre-pandemic patterns, with households continuing to innovate on their festive tables.
After two Christmas campaigns shaped by Covid, Spain’s major wholesale food markets, Mercamadrid and Mercabarna, open this Saturday to the season’s first large-scale Christmas event and its long-awaited return to normalcy.
Mercamadrid, Europe’s leading food hub, confirmed to Efe that the season is on track in terms of supply and demand and that activity resembles 2019, before the pandemic altered many routines.
About 80% of products in this area originate from within the country, with fresh produce and seafood playing a central role in the mix.
Despite rising cart prices, average increases surpassing 15%, the Mercamadrid fish market notes that prices for shellfish have remained steady versus last year.
A growing appetite for smoked, canned, and salted products persists, with salmon rising as a star item and new additions such as smoked sardines gaining traction.
Convenience continues to gain ground, and every year more customers request detailing and semi-finished items from producers, especially from the lodging sector, which benefited from a robust campaign this year after two years of restrictions.
The Christmas table began with strong sales of white shrimp, king shrimp, Norwegian lobster, and red shrimp, joined by sea bream, tuna, turbot, and salmon to round out main courses.
On the seafood front, suppliers continue to feature bream, sea bass, and other popular catches as a steady offer for both festive meals and regular meals alike.
Frozen options remain in demand for bars, restaurants, and families seeking quick, reliable add-ons.
This year Mercamadrid also highlights significant commercialization of national algae products, marketed as vegetables from the sea.
In the fruit and vegetable section, the Madrid market emphasizes red cabbage, escarole, pomegranate, lettuce, strawberries, pineapple, and mango. The campaign will again showcase grapes and cherries, with seasonal imports appearing in Christmas fruit bowls.
In meat, traditional favorites such as roast beef maintain a strong presence, with lamb, poultry, capon, and suckling pig continuing to be featured. New cuts and selected beef options are gradually expanding, including larger tomahawk-style portions.
Demand for processed and semi-finished products also grows in this sub-sector, with many options designed for quick preparation or simple warming.
more than 100,000 tons
Mercabarna’s wholesale unions project a marketing volume for the year that returns to pre-pandemic levels, estimating the distribution of 108,000 tonnes of fresh food.
Despite the inflationary backdrop, forecasts indicate steady prices for products such as hake and berries, underscoring resilient pricing in key categories.
The hospitality sector’s recovery, slowed by last year’s Omicron wave, has helped restore normalcy to a distribution chain that faced ups and downs over the past year. It has not only impacted prices but also highlighted the resilience of transport networks and the broader European market amid recent disruptions.