The Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia (FCAC) warns that the increase in production costs is “unsustainable”, especially those related to energy which have tripled in the last year. Its president, Ramon Sarroca, says that it is “impossible” to transfer this increase to the final consumer and, faced with this, calls for measures to prevent food from becoming even more expensive. Thus, the FCAC proposes that cooperatives be excluded from paying compensation for the Iberian exception to gas companies, a measure that would reduce the energy bill by 50%and that the power of the contracted light can be changed twice a year, with which they would save up to 75% of the expenditure on light power.
La FCAC ha traslladat als diputats catalans al Congrés espanyol diverses mesures perquè puguin ser debatudes a la tramitació dels pressupostos de l’Estat del 2023. L’objectiu, explica Sarroca, és evitar agreujar l’increment dels preus dels aliments. “Prices are rising, but below what the cost prices we use are rising”, he assures, while saying that it is “impossible” that this price increase can be passed on to the final product.
“A carafe of 5 liters of olive oil that last year was worth 25 euros, this year it should cost 40, but it will not be worth 40 but the costs will be adjusted”, explained the president of the FCAC, which warns that the current situation is “becoming unsustainable” and that if it does not change soon, “this winter may mean a before and after in food productivity”.
Thus, The first measure that asks for the agri-food sector is to be excluded from paying the compensation for the gas cap charged by the combined cycle power plants. This would achieve, they say, a cost saving of 50% in the electricity bill, and instead of tripling costs from 27 to 78.6 million euros, they would go from 27 to 53. Thus, the average increase per cooperative would drop from 270,000 to 135,000 euros per year.
Another demand that they have been claiming for some time and that is now gaining more relevance is that the power of the contracted light can be changed twice a year, since the current regulations only allow a single change. This means that oil mills, wine cellars or grain cooperatives are forced to contract maximum power throughout the year, when in reality they only need large amounts of energy during the two or three months that the campaign lasts. In this case, they calculate a saving of 75% of the expenditure derived from the power of the light.
On the other hand, they also request that the VAT reduction from 21% to 5% that already applies to products from biomass, such as pellets or wood for firewood, be extended to by-products of the food industry used as fuel, such as olive pits or dried fruit husks and skins.
Miralcamp saves 60% on energy costs with biomass
The grain dryer of the Miralcamp Cooperative has been operating with biomass, such as almond husks, peach pits or forest chips, for eight years. This has allowed them to have more price stability and cost savings as they are less dependent on the fossil fuel price context.
If in a “normal” year biomass represents a saving of up to 30%, in the current context and despite the increase in its price, the savings have soared twice, reaching between 50 and 60%, explained the manager of the cooperative and responsible for herbal crops of the FCAC, Santi Vergé.
To further cut energy costs, however, he points out that it is necessary to be able to modify the power of the light twice a year, since the bread dryer only works at full capacity during the 3 or 4 months of the campaign.
The 193 agricultural cooperatives produce 33% of Catalonia’s final agricultural production, specifically 53% of agricultural production and 24% of livestock production.