Spain to Launch €40 Million Aid Package for Fisheries and Aquaculture Processing Sector

Editor/Mohamed Shihab

The Government of Spain will launch a new line of aid for the fishing and aquaculture processing sector, after receiving authorization from the European Commission (EC) for its implementation. The plan will have a budget of 40 million euros in subsidies, charged to the Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (PRTR).

The European Commission has announced today that the implementation of this plan is compatible with the internal market, in accordance with article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and therefore authorizes the Spanish State the aid to the fishing and aquaculture product processing sector, which had been excluded from the community regulations regulating recovery plans.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has celebrated “the positive response of the European Commission, the result of the intense work carried out by the Government of Spain” and has stressed that “our canning sector, a fundamental part of our agri-food sector, "It deserves this European support.For his part, the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, has assured that this aid will serve to continue the transformation of the Spanish industry and has celebrated that the Government has successfully completed its negotiations with the European Commission. And he added that "we started working so that the aid is called as soon as possible and that it reaches the fishing industry as soon as possible."

The European Commission endorses the inclusion of this sector in the receipt of this aid, requested by the Ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Industry and Tourism, and which will favor the transformation, sustainability and modernization of production processes in the industry. fishery.

In its communication, the Commission details that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will be the competent authority in developing the call and managing the aid.

This line of aid, which is part of the Agri-Food PERTE, is of great importance for Spain, which is the leading producer of canned fish and seafood in the European Union (EU) and the second largest in the world, with 305,404 tons estimated in the year 2021, valued at 1,744 million euros (USD 1,872 M). These products were sold to 145 countries, with a turnover of more than 1.2 billion euros (USD 1.288 million). This activity generates around 26,000 direct jobs in Spain and represents 5.5% of the Spanish food industry.

The decision communicated today by the EC enables the call for aid to promote the green transformation of the fishing and aquaculture products processing sector, in line with the objective set in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR). ) for Spain. To achieve this objective, the measure encourages the modernization of the sector to increase the added value of products, thus making it more resilient to current and future challenges.

AID OF UP TO 2,500,000 EUROS (USD 2,683,975)

The measure is open to companies of all sizes, legally established and duly registered in Spain, that operate in the sector of the transformation of fishing and aquaculture products.The total amount of aid, per company and year, may not exceed 2.5 million euros.Projects to support investments in the processing of fishery and aquaculture products will be eligible, with a maximum aid intensity of 50% of eligible costs, when their purpose is to finance measures. These must be aimed at achieving the following objectives:

-contribute to energy saving or reducing the impact on the environment, including waste treatment;

-improve safety, hygiene, health and working conditions;

-support the transformation of commercial fish catches that cannot be used for human consumption;

-refer to the transformation of by-products resulting from the main transformation activities;

-refer to the processing of organic aquaculture products in accordance with Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation (EU) 2018/848; either

-give rise to new or improved products, new or improved processes, or new or improved management and organizational systems

The Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación is going to begin the processing of the regulatory regulations to be able to implement this measure to support the sector of the processing of fishery and aquaculture products.

Source: Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación - MAPA