Guy Hedgecoe
Business Reporter
Guy Hedgecoe
Spain’s famous Jamon Iberico is one of its biggest food exports
It’s time for lunch at a bar in the city of Seville, southern Spain. The kitchen is humming with activities, and behind the bar, staff members pour cold beer from taps into glasses.
Nearby, another is used to cut slices from the large legs of Jamon Iberico or Iberian ham using a carving knife, and each is placed on a plate and served as an appetizer.
There are very few Spanish scenes. And there are fewer Spanish products than Jamón Ibérico, famous for its unique salty taste around the world. It is also part of the national hardened ham industry, which costs nearly 750 million euros ($850 million, £630 million) each year.
While watching the hamuns are carved, Jaime Fernández, international commercial director for Grupo Osborne, who produces wine, sherry and ham from the famous Cinco Jotas brand, describes it as the “flagship” national food.
“It’s one of Spain’s most iconic gastronomic products,” he says, pointing to how pigs raised ham in the wild and fed acorns. “It represents our tradition, our culture, our essence.”
But like products from Spain and other parts of Europe, Jamon Iberico faces the threat of trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
There were no tariffs on Spanish ham exports until April this year. This was a sudden introduction of 20% bills on all European imports, resulting in a 10% reduction in negotiations.
But again, in May, it has not volatile European exporters when he said that if trade talks with Brussels were successful, tariffs on all EU goods could rise to 50%. The current deadline for this is July 9th.
“The US is one of our top priority markets,” says Fernandez. “There is uncertainty and complicate medium- and long-term planning, investment and commercial development.”
Tariffs “substantially pose a threat to our industry,” he added.
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Jaime Fernández says his company is already trying to invest in China as an alternative to the US
Spain’s entire economy is in rude health. The IMF is forecasting growth of 2.5% this year, much higher than other major EU economies, with unemployment for the first time in 17 years.
But the issue of tariffs is a blow to the country’s pork industry. It represents more than 400,000 direct and indirect employment, and is the largest in Europe.
The US demand for cured ham has increased significantly in recent years, becoming the largest importer of Spanish ham outside the EU.
However, Spanish industry is currently facing the prospect of having to raise retail prices for US consumers, thus losing competitiveness for local products or products that are not subject to the same tariffs.
The Spanish olive oil sector is similarly difficult. Spain, the world’s largest producer of olive oil, has set its sights on the US as a fast-growing market where growth has been driven by increased awareness of the health benefits of its products.
But the tariff disruption has led to Spanish producers and exporters cutting harvests in the country’s south and recovering from a temporary rise in drought.
The US represents half of the world’s olive oil consumption outside the EU.
It is also the country where imports of food products from Spain have grown the most in recent years, increasing from around 300,000 tonnes a year ago to around 430,000 tonnes per year, said Rafael Pico Lapute, director of the Spanish Association of Olive Oil Exporters (Asoliva).
He will depend on the EU’s ultimate tariffs, he says.
“If there is a permanent 10% tariff without distinguishing between country of origin, it will not create distortions in the international market,” says Pico Lapuente.
He explains that American consumers may have to absorb the extra costs. And while local producers of olive oil or similar products will gain competitiveness, their production is so low that they don’t relate to anything like Spain.
But he says it would be a “another story” if Trump introduces tariffs higher in the EU than its competitors, olive oil countries outside Turkey, the world’s second-largest producer, and emerging grower Tunisia. That scenario will have a major impact on the global market and Spanish producers, he says.
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Spain is famous for the quality of the black Iberian pigs and the ham they produce
However, according to Javier Díaz-Giménez, professor of economics at the IESE business school in Madrid, tariff fluctuations between countries or trade blocs lead to certain rules bending and even chaos. He proposes two direct neighbors in Spain as a hypothetical example.
“If Spain has a 20% tariff and Morocco and Andorra have a 10% tariff, all products in Spain that can pass through Morocco or Andorra do so.”
He adds: “They are first exported to Morocco and Andorra, and then re-exported to the US with 10% tariffs.
“And it’s going to be really hard to see that these olives come from Andorra, not from Spain. Is Trump going to do something about it?”
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Spain is the world’s largest producer of olive oil
For now, Spanish producers and exporters must hold their breath as EU negotiations are being held with Washington. For Pico Lapuente, the main source of concern is influence, or, as he sees it, the lack of influence – his sector exercises within the European trade bloc.
“The negotiations representing the 27 EU countries are being conducted by Brussels,” he says. “In these negotiations, industrial products have a much greater impact than food.
“In this negotiation, if foods like olive oil were used as mere negotiation tips to get a better deal with European industrial products, I wouldn’t like it. It’s worrying about me. And I hope it doesn’t happen.”
A spokesman for the European Commission told the BBC that it would act in negotiations with the US “to defend Europe’s interests and protect workers, consumers and industries.”
Jaime Fernández of Grupo Osborne believes his industry can now live at a prescribed 10% tariff without too much fallout.
But a 20% billing will “rethink how to accelerate growth in several other markets, and ultimately lead to the transfer of resources from the US,” he says.
He says his company is already looking at alternative markets that have been proven by investments such as China and European ham consumers such as France, Italy and Portugal.
Diaz Gimenez says it is a logical response to current uncertainty.
“If I were the CEO of a company with high exposure to the US… I would have sent the entire sales team to find other markets,” he says.
“And by now they’ve found them. There will be plan BS and plan CS.