Mercasa

A large organization at the service of the food supply chain

Mercasa is a Spanish public undertaking that has been responsible for promoting the modernization of business and trade structures in Spain for the past 40 years.

Mercasa provides a public service, promoting market transparency, free competition and food safety.

The Mercas Network of Food Units

The Mercas Network has 23 Food Units comprising a total of 23 fruits and vegetables wholesale markets; 17 fish wholesale markets; 3 flower wholesale markets; 7 slaughterhouses and meat centers, and large food processing, handling, storage and distribution installations.

• Mercas Network area: 7,000,000 sq.m.
• Annual marketed volume: 6,200,000 tons.
• Annual incoming vehicles: 17,000,000 vehicles.
• Value of marketed merchandise: 15,000,000,000€ per year.

Internacional activity

Mercasa ha consolidado su experiencia, comparada a nivel internacional y ofrece su know-how dirigido a:

• Government agencies: national, regional and municipal authorities.
• Multilateral organizations (World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, FAO, etc.)
• Private traders and businessmen: wholesale and retail markets, shopping centers...

Equipment and infraestructure in Spain

Mercasa has developed and runs a public network of shopping centers, and supports and monitors the Program for the Modernization of Municipal Retail Markets (Programa para la modernización de mercados municipales minoristas).

Since 1999 Mercasa organizes national encounters of municipal retail markets (Encuentros Nacionales de Mercados Municipales Minoristas), with notable attendance and outstanding technical level, awarding prizes to the best business initiatives.

Retail Markets

Mercasa has designed and carried out the modernization of more than 100 Retail Markets in cities throughout Spain and other countries.

Mercapalma

Comprehensive and full range of fresh produce

Mercapalma is a services company, whose aim is to provide the food and agriculture sector with the necessary infrastructures for an optimal development of their logistics and market functions. Mercapalma also seeks to draw the companies of the sector together, so that synergies are produced that create business opportunities. The shareholders of Mercapalma are the Town Council of
Palma de Mallorca and Mercasa.

Mercapalma has the largest food and agriculture wholesale offer in Mallorca and the entire Balearic Islands. Its 318,080-square-meter facilities include several platforms and warehouses for distribution and logistics, and complementary activities.

Mallorca’s pantry

The natural area of influence of Mercapalma largely focuses on the island of Mallorca, but its scope of action extends to other Balearic Islands. This is an important selling point of local fruit and vegetable produce, accounting for approximately 50% of the products marketed by the Food Unit.

A fair assessment of the scope of influence of Mercapalma should consider the significant weight of tourism, which is the main industry on the island (more than 10 million visitors per year), on food demand, as this Spanish region has a population of nearly 1,100,000 inhabitants according to the census, of which a little more than 800,000 live in Mallorca and, more specifically, over 400,000 in the capital city.

Our added value: the dynamization of the Market

Mercapalma strives to make commercial structures more dynamic, supporting established companies, actively participating in their modernization and promoting a rational operation of the market with greater technical efficiency, while playing a coordinating role vis-à-vis the public authorities and the different links in the commercial chain, with a view to strengthening the many sectors included in the Food Unit. Along these lines, Mercapalma encouraged the modernization of the stalls in the Fruit and Vegetable halls between 2001 and 2005, taking a lead in the implementation of new air-conditioning technologies for wholesalers to be able to manage their logistics better.