Catalonia crisis

Pressure mounting for Balearic boycott of Catalonia products

Shifting shipping operations to Valencia would cause a logistical headache. | Archive

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma13/10/2017 00:00

The distributors' association in the Balearics has apparently been receiving requests from hoteliers, restaurant owners and also supermarkets for a boycott of products from Catalonia.

There is, says the association's president Bartomeu Servera, some pressure to change the origin of products coming to the islands. He adds that the association is looking into this, as it has to respond to its clients.

It would seem that it is mainly the hotel and restaurant sectors which are leading this call. But there are some supermarkets as well, or so it is said. Servera explains that it isn't just one or two businesses but dozens.

In any event, because of the uncertain situation in Catalonia, there are thoughts about switching to other ports to supply the Balearics. Overwhelmingly, it is Barcelona which is the main supply port. Tarragona is also used but to a very much lesser extent. But to go outside Catalonia to Valencia would entail a significant logistical upheaval. Barcelona doesn't of course just supply products from Catalonia; the port is used to ship products from other countries.

From the point of view of hotels, restaurants and supermarkets, it isn't that they necessarily want to change the origin of products; it is more a case of what their customers think.

As previously reported in the Bulletin, there are concerns in Catalonia about a boycott of Catalonia goods, and obviously not only a boycott in the Balearics. Antonio Garamendi, the president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations, has said that a boycott would be bad news for Spain as well as for Catalonia.

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7 comments

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CAROL DIJKHUYZEN | over 7 years ago

But there is only one country and that is SPAIN!The separatist must follow &respect the rule of LAW!All this independence!is nonsense&backwards mentality!We'll see when the billions of trade and banks transfers to Madrid!Catalonia will become a poor corner!EUnion Elitist will never tolerate this garbage dividing!SPAIN is the country!We as EU Loyalist will punished all the uneducated,racist and greedy separatist!creating this chaos!They are all loco de cabezas!VAMOS!Viva ESPANA!

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Richard Pearson | over 7 years ago

All the non-catalans are saying is that if you continue to manufacture or grow goods in what we consider to be our shared territory which you now want to steal from us, then we won´t make your life any easier.According to your theory, Brussels is wrong to impose tariffs on goods made outside the EU (to prevent dumping) or that anyone can come and fish in British waters..

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Steve Riches | over 7 years ago

So all of a sudden, Mallorca which normally complains about getting a rough deal from Madrid, now decides that Barcelona is a greater evil!

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Henry James | over 7 years ago

No,Mr Pearson,you are missing mine,which has nothing to do with who wants to leave who but the fact that copycat bans get no one anywhere.

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Richard Pearson | over 7 years ago

Mr James, I think you are missing the point. It´s Catalonia that wants to leave Spain, not the other way around.

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Henry James | over 7 years ago

Catalonia then bans all Spanish products in retaliation so where do you go from there.? These needs calm heads,not actions that can only make a bad situation even worse.

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Richard Pearson | over 7 years ago

The Catalans, in their wisdom, demanded to have a different bar code number than the one used in the rest of Spain.Therefore, anything produced in Catalonia starts with 15, and anything produced in Spain starts with 84

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