Mercadona has significantly increased its purchase of fruit and vegetables from Canarian suppliers in 2023 to 109.3 million kilos and has offered 49% of this locally sourced family assortment, thanks to its collaboration with over 120 specialist suppliers from the islands.
Particularly noteworthy are the purchases of peppers, which Mercadona increased by over 600% in the past year to reach 1.2 million kilos, or the over 3 million kilos of tomatoes that the company bought from Canarian suppliers, a 27% increase.
Continuing with the initiative to promote local produce in its stores, Mercadona has raised the purchase of dragon fruit by 75% to 51,000 kilos, by 46% for mangoes to 465,000 kilos, and by 17% for papayas to 1.5 million kilos.
Furthermore, the company procured over 2.4 million kilos of potatoes in 2023, over 370,000 kilos of strawberries, and over 1.3 million kilos of avocados, a 13% increase from the previous year. As for bananas, Mercadona bought over 80 million kilos to stock its supermarkets, a 15% increase.
These efforts are part of Mercadona’s transformation process, which throughout 2023 also continued to advance in the implementation of its efficient store model, allowing for up to 40% less energy consumption compared to the conventional store model, and in the optimization and enhancement of the logistics blocks it has in Gran Canaria, in Tenerife, along with its satellite warehouse in Fuerteventura, with a total investment of 33 million Euros.
Specifically, the company opened three new efficient supermarkets last year, one Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (in the Central Market), and the other two, located in Santa Lucía de Tirajana and Arucas, are openings by closure (stores that replace existing ones as they do not meet the company’s standards). Additionally, two supermarkets located in San Cristóbal de La Laguna were renovated, so by the end of 2023, the company already had 68 efficient supermarkets out of the total 86 that made up its store network in the Canarian community, 80%.
Moreover, 55 supermarkets already had ‘Ready to Eat’ sections, where quality improvements have been made to various recipes and new dishes have been added based on customer feedback.
Mercadona also has a staff of 4,641 people in the Canary Islands and has maintained salaries above the industry average (the gross minimum entry-level salary is 1,553 Euros per month) and with a bonus for objectives, linked to the company’s profits and to the employee having achieved the goals and objectives agreed at the beginning of the year with their superior. Additionally, at the beginning of 2024, it approved a salary increase in line with the IPC (3.1% in Spain and 1.4% in Portugal) with the aim of ensuring the purchasing power of its staff and an additional bonus for improved production efficiency and management.
Potatoes in Mercadona supermarket. / MERCADONA
On another note, Mercadona has continued to focus on work-life balance. Particularly in the case of the Canary Islands, 130 mothers and fathers extended their maternity leave by an additional month and 578 people enjoyed reduced working hours. A sustainable social action policy integrated into the CSR strategy.
As part of its Social Action Plan, Mercadona has donated over the past year, through various initiatives, 1,345 tons of essential products in the Canarian community. The company has once again shown solidarity with the most vulnerable groups and has made a significant effort to expand its collaboration network with social entities. Therefore, by the end of 2023, it was already working with over 50 entities in the Canary Islands.
