The bank is stepping up its support for its 12,500 agricultural and livestock clients to make their business models more sustainable and profitable
The regional agri-food sector is developing stubbornly in the markets and preaching in an exemplary manner, with union and without cracks, its natural ability to adapt to challenges such as the announced reduction of the Tajo-Segura Transfer, the increase in production costs, inflation and water scarcity. Behind the strength of this industry, made up of thousands of women and men who demonstrate their passion for agriculture and livestock every day, is the historic support of Santander, which acts as a watchtower, providing them with advice, financing and tailored solutions.
The bank, chaired by Ana Botín, is a reference in the agri-food sector, as confirmed by its more than 425,000 agricultural and livestock customers across the country, of which more than 12,500 come from Murcia. In fact, in 2022 it has invested 4,200 million euros in this activity, 11% more than the previous year. There are also other specific products, with digitization and sustainability as common denominator.
In the region, the entity has one of the most important networks of professional clients, and was unveiled yesterday at the third edition of the Agro Santander Forum in Murcia, with the aim of x-raying the current situation, points of view and joining forces. Organized by LA VERDAD and sponsored by the bank, the event brought together more than 100 regional agricultural professionals to hear the views of a panel of business, association and banking experts.
The president of Proexport, Mariano Zapata, opened the round table to take stock of the 2022 financial year, highlighting the increase in production and marketing costs and the episodes of meteorological phenomena that cause a decrease in the volume of raw materials caused. «As we are very experienced, all problems have been solved; we are more alive than ever here,” he exclaimed gratefully. He said that the Region sold 4,000 million euros worth of products last year, of which 3,000 million for export.
During his speech, Zapata glimpsed a somewhat dark horizon due to “the regulations and regularizations to come”, relying on “the 1,000 pages that the central government has published in the BOE for the agricultural sector”. “They tell us that everything comes from Europe – he added – and they apply it from the most extreme and negative side”. He gave the example of the ban imposed by the EU on the use of phytosanitary products for soil decontamination, to which countries such as Portugal and Italy have established a series of exceptions, while Spain has not taken any action in this regard. “Don’t tell us milongas,” he snapped.
In turn, Lorena Ruiz, Director of the Agri-Food Business at Santander Spain and Europe, emphasized the bank’s proximity and active listening to its customers: “Our team will remain at your side for years to come,” she reiterated. From this communication, early last year, the ‘Agro Smart Fund’, endowed with €500 million, was launched by Santander to allow companies in the sector to expand their investments and undertake new growth projects, farm transformation, digitalisation and employment. Likewise, it allocates up to 20% of the resources to invest in the capital of these companies so that they gain dimension and competitiveness. “We have already consumed a quarter in less than a year of life,” he said with satisfaction.
The board also highlighted the bank’s commitment to the transition to a more digital and sustainable economy, working hand-in-hand with its clients to initiate this transformation. For example, Santander recently entered the capital of the Kimitec group from Almería and its MAAVi Innovation Center, the largest ‘hub’ in Europe for the transition from chemical to natural. With this agreement, it aims to add biotechnology value to its portfolio of agro-industrial customers and “without sacrificing profitability,” he added.
Kimitec researches and develops solutions to face two tsunamis, its CEO, Félix García, compared those of natural chemicals (such as pesticides in agriculture and hormones in livestock) and those of true sustainability. The company, which emerged as a ‘start-up’ in 2007, applied to the regional industry through strategic plans to become ‘more productive and profitable’. One of these concerns the substitution of sodium metabisulfite (sulphites) in frozen shell shrimps and shrimp varieties arriving in Spain from Latin America, as this molecule is one of those that the EU is considering banning. “Either you create an alternative or you kill the sector,” he said.
Ángel Rivera, recently appointed CEO of Santander Spain (a position he will hold from February 1), was responsible for opening the third edition of this sectoral forum, highlighting the figure of the businessman: «Without companies, there is no wealth or function”. He sent a message of positivity, “despite major storm clouds” such as inflation and the rise in interest rates. Still, he glimpsed a hopeful horizon, given the “gradual fall in inflation in Spain and Europe, which will moderate the rise in interest rates, but we see a slight rise in interest rates between now and the summer, because when they rise, the effect on inflation usually lasts for nine months,” he argued.
The manager, who kept an optimistic tone throughout his speech, clearly said that the rise in interest rates for companies need not spoil their business models because if they have a structural problem, financing need not be what keeps them from continuing to operate. As for families, the impact on the economy is different, he stressed.
He also encouraged to take advantage of Europe’s ‘Next Generation’ funds, for which Santander offers a comprehensive service to apply for available aid, and said goodbye with a forecast of the Spanish economy, which he calculates a “slowdown in 2023 , with the first two quarters weaker than what we’ve experienced in recent years, but we don’t see a recession or a deep crisis,” he calmed down.
Thus, the agreement between Kimitec and Santander aims to boost the international growth of the Almería-based company (“we grow in double digits every year,” said García, adding that “in three years we will go public together”) and that the bank is present in the biotechnology sector.
The president of COAG-IR, José Miguel Marín, asked for a breath of fresh air for the agri-food sector, which must bear the fall in farm income while production costs are rising. Likewise, he called for long-term water planning and criticized that initiatives such as the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are “made on a bureaucratic basis without falling into reality”. Still, “we have a strong and powerful industry in the Murcia region,” he boasted, before emphasizing that the primary sector is “the only one that can guarantee the food sovereignty of a country and a society.” In line, Marín urged to “inoculate” the political class that the primary sector is strategic: “We are, but this fixed expression is not applied, they do not see us as such.” Even with everything, he cited agriculture’s performance in favor of sustainability, through research and knowledge, because “we have to adapt to the new scenario,” he complied.
At the conclusion of the sectoral meeting, Luis Rodríguez de la Fuente, Territorial Director of Santander in the Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community, took the floor and recalled that last year the bank injected 2,100 million euros into Murcian companies. In addition, he emphasized that the bank’s entire human team is available to the agri-food sector, for which he suggested “introducing insurance (stone fruit, table grapes, citrus…) and payroll”.
The voice of the President of the Regional Government, Fernando López Miras, was one of the most anticipated voices at the Agro Santander Forum. He started his speech by thanking the bank for its commitment to the Murcia region, because at the same time “you are right”, as “we are the community with the greatest potential for the medium and long term future”. For this reason, he confirmed the role of the agri-food sector in the current situation, characterized by the “maximum uncertainty at the international and national level” and now added “obstacles that depend only on political decisions that can be avoided or cause less damage”.
In this regard, he repeated the protest in Madrid in defense of the Tagus-Segura transfer held this Wednesday, warning of the consequences of the austerity that the Tagus Hydrological Plan entails “for the whole country”. «If Spain does without the fruit and vegetables that the Transfer irrigates, will there be enough? And if there are, at what cost will they be? This is something that a government that has to guarantee food sovereignty should ask itself,’ he informed.
He stressed that “we will not give up and the battle is not lost, but we must all defend the transfer as something no one can delegate to Madrid.” “We want to raise awareness in Spain of what the most supportive infrastructure means and that has contributed the most socially and economically to the country over the past 44 years”, for which he asked “not to fall into discouragement”, since “because of the lack of technical guarantees that the cut has, the central government has time to think and reverse its decision,” he confided.
Because, according to López Miras, the loss of the Tagus-Segura would mean the loss of more than 25,000 direct jobs and up to 100,000 indirect jobs, as well as 18,000 million euros in fruit and vegetable exports that Murcia, Almería and Alicante currently produce. And even that for the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Region, the water that falls from the tap becomes a “luxury”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
