Image: BDI / FIS

The Fishing Sector Will Again Request the Government to Eliminate or Reduce VAT on Its Products

SPAIN
Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 07:00 (GMT + 9)

The most representative organizations in the fishing, aquaculture, processing and marketing sectors of our country[1] will once again request the Government to eliminate or reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) on fishing products. The sector will make this request following the announcement made by the Council of Ministers to extend from next July 1 the tax reduction for basic foodstuffs, among which, once again, fishing vessels are not recognized as such.

Source: Cepesca

The sector will also ask the Government to explain and argue the reason for this repeated decision that distances the consumer's access to a quality diet, even more so in the case of the most disadvantaged social strata and "if it is only based on collecting in exchange for the impoverish the diet of citizens.” It is worth remembering that the Bank of Spain has made public its forecast that food prices will rise by an average of 4.5% this year.

The reduction or elimination of VAT on fishery products in all their commercial presentations (chilled, frozen, preserved, smoked, etc.) is a historic demand of the sector and intensified in recent years as a result of its exclusion as a basic food and not thus benefit from the measures adopted by the Executive since mid-2022 to reduce its price after the inflationary spiral caused by the invasion of Ukraine.

Furthermore, the sector argues, their exclusion from the Government's list of basic foods encourages them to be erroneously perceived as more expensive and expendable products, "even though the Government itself recommends their consumption three or four times a week."

Source: Cepesca -->

The sector considers that the ability of citizens to acquire healthy and essential foods for a balanced diet, such as fish and seafood, should be a priority for any government, just as other European countries around us do through the application of healthy taxation. Eliminating or cutting VAT on fishery products, in addition to contributing to the domestic economy, would encourage the maintenance of a healthy fish-Mediterranean diet and help solve health problems, such as obesity or overweight in children and adults, reducing the health expenses derived from poor nutrition.

The fishing sector remembers that, in European countries such as Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom, seafood products have a permanent 0 VAT; In April 2023, the Government of Portugal eliminated VAT for the main fish species consumed in the country, and other European countries maintain a super-reduced rate for these products, such as Luxembourg (3%), Germany, Cyprus, Hungary and Poland ( 5%) or France (5.5%).

As it has already stated on other occasions, the sector believes that the Government once again has the opportunity to mark a turning point and send a strong message to promote healthy eating with foods of high nutritional and biological value, and with the smallest footprint of carbon in its production process.

Source: El Corte Inglés

Finally, the sector remembers that by applying healthy taxation for its products it would also help alleviate the persistent decline in consumption. Thus, according to the Food Consumption Report in Spain 2023 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA), the per capita consumption of fishery products in 2023 was 18.56 kilos, 3.3% less than in 2022. The year 2023 thus closes with the lowest volume figure in the entire historical series, which shows a cumulative drop of 34.3% since 2008.

[1] Asociación de Fabricantes y Distribuidores (AECOC), ANFACO-CECOPESCA, Asociación Empresarial de Acuicultura de España (APROMAR), the Cooperativa de Armadores de pesca del Puerto de Vigo (ARVI), Confederación Española de Pesca (CEPESCA), Asociación Española de Mayoristas, Importadores, Transformadores y Exportadores de Productos de la Pesca y Acuicultura (CONXEMAR), the Federación Nacional de Asociaciones Provinciales de Empresarios Detallistas de Pescados y Productos Congelados (FEDEPESCA), the Federación Nacional de Mayoristas de Pescados (FENAMAR) and the Federación Nacional de Cofradías de Pescadores (FNCP)

Fuente: BDI 

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