The Diplomat
ICEX Spain Export and Investment, the body of the Secretary of State for Trade for the internationalization of the Spanish economy, and the Interprofesional del Cerdo Ibérico (ASICI), the agri-food organization that equally represents livestock farmers and industrialists in the sector, have signed a collaboration agreement for the international promotion of the Iberian sector.
Under the agreement, both parties establish a general framework of collaboration both for the coordination of their respective actions of dissemination, training or promotion of Spanish Iberian pork abroad, and to encourage the participation of Spanish companies in the sector in the activities and actions that both entities organize, in order to strengthen the international presence of Iberian products.
The agreement, which will have a period of execution of four years renewable by consensus and was signed last Thursday by the CEO of ICEX, María Peña, and the president of ASICI, Raúl García, seeks the international visibility of products from the Iberian pig in all areas, whether promotion, training or communication.
This includes the identification and selection of speakers specialized in providing generic training on Spanish Iberian pork, the promotion of educational materials on this product that Foods & Wines from Spain Academy will provide in training sessions for international professionals and the development of reports, articles and audiovisual projects that will be reflected in the FoodsWinesFromSpain portal, including versions in Chinese and Japanese.
According to ICEX, Iberian products, and especially Iberian ham, have become a gastronomic icon thanks to their worldwide recognition and contribute to projecting the image of Spain and its gastronomy internationally.
Iberian ham has become one of the most valuable products and acts as a spearhead for the Spanish agri-food sector. Exports of cured hams from Spain have increased by almost 100% since 2015. In 2022, exports exceeded 590 million euros, with an overall growth of 12.29%, to which the growth of China (+30.8%), Mexico (+28.9%) or the United States (+18.3%) contributed especially, countries in which both institutions, both ICEX and ASICI, maintain active strategies to promote Iberian ham.
In any case, more than 70% of exports continue to be made to EU countries, with France and Germany standing out with 53.5% of exports in value within the European Union, and 39.95% of total exports, according to data published by ICEX.
