IV edition of the 'Día del Frutero'

This Tuesday the IV edition of the 'Día del Frutero', coinciding with the name day of the patron saint of these professionals, Saint Dorothy, that It is celebrated today February 6.  

VI.P- Val Venosta, Association of Horticultural Producers of the Venosta Valley, launched this initiative four years ago. The consortium of cooperatives includes more than 1,700 fruit and vegetable producers who grow Val Venosta Apples in the Italian Alps. For a decade, they have been marketing them in Spain and promoting actions in the country to boost the fruit sales sector. An example is its Golden Gold Awards, which are also in their fourth edition and which recognize the best fruit shops in Spain.

Another is this day of Fruit Bowl Day, whose celebration has support institutional, on the part of of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and the General Directorate of Commerce and Entrepreneurship of the Government Area of Equity, Social Rights and Employment of the Madrid City Council. The main professional associations in the sector also join in, such as the Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC), the National Confederation of Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Entrepreneurs of Spain (COEMFE), the Association of Fruit and Vegetable Retailers of Madrid (ADEFRUTA) and the Association of Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Entrepreneurs of Madrid (ASOMAFRUT).

The presentation of this day has served to inaugurate the exhibition 'The fruit bowls in art'. He Municipal Market of  Anton Martin welcome this exhibition with the finalists and winner of a plastic arts competition which sought to abandon the classic still lifes so that the fruit sellers, the professionals who sell fruit, would be the protagonists. The purpose was to put the focus on indispensable people in the chain that goes from the field to the table, offering fresh fruits and vegetables every morning.

The jury, led by Daniel Parra – winner of more than 300 national and international awards in the categories of painting, drawing, comics and illustration – has chosen as the winner the work of student Sergio Vallés, who receives a cash prize of €3,000. Halfway between psychological portrait and still life, this oil painting reflects a saleswoman selecting apples. A simple scene, but one that balances the classic composition with the modern color and aesthetics. A spirit that matches perfectly with the character of the market that hosts the exhibition, where traditional shops, modern restaurants with international gastronomic proposals and cultural activities coexist in a symbiosis that is beginning to proliferate in many markets in Spain.  

The day aims to encourage consumers to go to local businesses. A push by VI.P and the collaborating institutions of this initiative that becomes urgent, according to the data provided by the Food Consumption Report in Spain 2017, published by Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and

Feeding. LThe purchase of fresh fruit has decreased by 3.5% compared to the previous year, especially affecting small businesses.

The traditional store, which represents the 33.4% of the volume of these foods in Spain has seen a decrease of 8.7% its sales volume in this period. While the supermarkets, that accumulate the 32.1% of the purchasing volume of the category, have experienced a positive variation of 0.4%.

Between the Causes of the recession in fruit consumption, the composition of the homes, increasingly smaller, scarcity of time and comfort. All of this favors the purchase of these products on a tray in large stores, with predefined quantities directly from the sales channel. 

Another important factor in these changes is the new role that fruit plays in the home. Historically, it has been eaten as a dessert, but it is less and less present after lunch and dinner. Its progressive transfer to other moments and environments of consumption is appreciated, such as breakfast, mid-morning or snack, for which fruit is brought from home with the purpose of consuming it outside. However, the decline cannot be compensated.

With the celebration of 'Fruits Day' The intention is to vindicate and revitalize the sector to improve the health of the Spanish economy and society, encouraging the population to attend  to its local businesses to support a sector that rarely makes the headlines, but which generates more than 160,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to the latest official data. Some professionals who are the protagonists of the plastic arts exhibition that can be visited until February 12 at the Antón Martín Municipal Market.