“Our companies are very tied to the territory, despite the entry of investors and foreign capital”

The food industry is one of the pillars of the Galician economy and for more than a decade has had an organization created to achieve competitiveness. It is about the Galician Food Cluster (Clusaga), an organized structure that integrates 130 companies and subjects for research and innovation, and which has been chaired since June 2019 by Juanjo de la Cerda, who tomorrow will hand over the baton to the new president in his annual sector event: Galicia Food Forum and awards.

Did your mandate coincide with the pandemic and the outbreak of war in Ukraine, two moments of consumer crisis. Has the sector suffered much?

— Our sector has a very high economic weight in Galicia and has not only kept it, but continues to increase it. It generates 7,100 million gross added value and accounts for 12% of Galicia’s industrial GDP. There are countless subsectors, but in each of them we have companies of national reference and we try to direct the success stories of some companies and use them in others.

—PERTE Alimentario is underway to attract European funds. How much does the Galician sector of PERTE weigh?

— We presented a strong, solid and powerful tractor project, aimed at the modernization and digitalization of the dairy industry. This initiative will be coordinated by Clusaga, and 19 companies, technology centers and knowledge centers will participate in it, including 8 dairies that are members of the cluster.

—Galician food industry has large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises predominate. Would more concentration be required?

—Gaining size is a general trend. Globalization is present in all sectors. It is difficult for a small company to improve costs and face investments to expand.

— It is also a very attractive sector for foreign investments…

— We have a highly valued vision of our product and good raw materials, with a high level of excellence. Our companies are very tied to the territory and despite the influx of capital, whether foreign or from other parts of Spain, these companies remain tied to the territory, meet their tax obligations and preserve jobs.

Juanjo de la Cerda has been president of Clusago since 2019, and his term ends tomorrow.