“The fruit fair”. This is what the Madrid taxi drivers call Fruit Attraction, an essential event for the sector that continues to amaze with the thousands of people and cars that gather at IFEMA (on October 7 more than 55,000, a record at IFEMA). Fruit Attraction has become, in its 18 editions, one of the leading horticultural fairs in the world and has managed to attract not only national and foreign professionals from its field but also representatives from other Spanish agri-food sectors because it is already an unavoidable appointment for the entire agri-food chain.
In the crowded aisles of Fruit Attraction 2026, in addition to seeing exhibitors, hostesses, and salespeople, one could also see farmers, ranchers, cooks, journalists, bankers, and politicians!
Political heavyweights
The day after Sánchez announced the call for elections, the fair was inaugurated, and the earliest to visit it was the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who (not being a regular at Fruit Attraction) declared that “on such a special day as this” she celebrated being with “one of the most important sectors in Spain, of hardworking people who fight a lot, create many jobs, and feed us all.”
Perhaps the one who did not celebrate the electoral announcement as much (because it complicates his path to the direction of the FAO) was the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, Luis Planas, who shortly after carried out the official inauguration of Fruit Attraction. In his speech, he highlighted the agricultural power of Spain with another of the sectoral rankings: “We are the leading producer of fruits and vegetables in the European Union and the tenth in the world” he declared, while presenting the latest promotional campaign launched from his department aimed at reducing food waste in households under the slogan “Spain knows.”
During the tour of the 10 pavilions that Fruit Attraction has occupied, Planas coincided with his colleague the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Angel Víctor Torres, at the Canary Banana stand, and also with the Minister of Agriculture of Catalonia, the socialist Oscar Ordeig, among others.
From the autonomous communities
The rural environment is the territory where food is produced, for this reason, at Fruit Attraction the autonomous communities are protagonists and the counselors of Agriculture are part of the most prominent visitors.
In the case of Murcia, a predominantly agricultural region, it was the president of the Region, Fernando López Mira who led the government mission guiding his current counselor of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Joaquín Buendía, appointed last June. On the first day, Miras was with the president of Madrid and of his Party in that community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso; on the second, he coincided with Alberto Nadal, deputy secretary of Economy and Sustainable Development of the Popular Party, and Milagros Marco, coordinator of the PP in matters of Rural Environment, Depopulation and Forestry Policy who visited Fruit Attraction alongside Andalusian MEP Carmen Crespo. The Agriculture counselor of Andalusia, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, was another popular figure who joined this delegation.
Nadal took advantage of his visit to refer to the high costs of fuel and fertilizers that affect the entire primary sector and demanded from the Government that: “It must exhaust the margin of 70% of the extra costs of fertilizers and fuels that Brussels grants it and that it has not used even half; provide certainty to the sector and with one month in advance inform them whether they will continue or not with their support measures and advance the money to farmers and fishermen so that they do not have to put it up themselves.”
On behalf of VOX, some of the representatives seen at the fair were the counselor of Agriculture of Extremadura, Juan José García García, the one from Aragón, Arancha Simón, the one from Castilla León, Joaquín Antonio Pino and the national spokesperson for Labor and Field of the party, Rodrigo Alonso, (also a deputy of the Andalusian Parliament for Almería). A
lonso also celebrated that a day earlier the president of the Government had announced the date of the next general elections: “Mr. Sánchez has finally had the kindness to press the button for the call for general elections and on the next November 29 the result will be vital for the primary sector. The future of agriculture, livestock, and fishing in Spain will depend on its result,” he stated, and continued his speech with the challenges facing the field, many of them posed by the policies of the European Union.
The head of Agriculture in Castilla La Mancha, the socialist Julián Martínez Lizán, was another of the councilors who was at Fruit Attraction 2027, just like other representatives of his party such as the general secretary of the PSOE in Extremadura, Miguel Angel Gallardo.
Record number of visitors at IFEMA
A few hours before closing its doors, Fruit Attraction was assessing its 18th edition: more than 121,000 professional visitors from 150 countries that are estimated to have generated an economic impact of 419 million euros in Madrid. These are record figures, even for IFEMA, since on October 7, it recorded the highest number of concurrent visitors of all those that have been held at the fairgrounds, receiving 55,200 people.
The fruits and vegetables sector is the first economic area of Spanish agriculture as it represents 1/3 of the final agricultural production and 60% of plant production, with 21.9 billion euros. 60% of the production is destined for export, with European countries being the main recipients.
However, despite these large figures, the sector shows caution, as in recent years the figures for exports have increased in price, but not in volume, while those for imports do maintain a firmly upward trend.