Catalan companies face boycott over independence push

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Businesses are worried about the economic implications of Catalan's separatist push as boycotts have been called for food, cars and a variety of other goods from the region.

"You have to hit them where it hurts the most: the wallet," a Twitter user wrote under the hashtag #boycottcatalanproducts.

Appeals for a boycott have become more urgent since Catalonia's separatist regional government held a banned independence referendum on October 1 in defiance of Spain's central government and courts.

The campaign targets Catalonia's key agriculture and food sectors, with consumers urged to shun cava, a sparkling wine, Estrella Damm beer, as well as Vichy Catalan and Font Vella bottled water.

Medicines are also on the list to hurt Catalonia's important pharmaceutical sector, as well as cars made by Seat, German carmaker Volkswagen's Spanish unit in the region.

Products made by foreign multinationals in Catalonia, including Nestle and Unilever, have also been swept up in the campaign.

Mobile phone apps help consumers identify which products come from the rebel region.

The impact of the boycott campaign is hard to measure to date. "We have had some clients who have bought less," especially in Madrid, Rosa Rebula, a manager at cava producer Rosell i Formosa, told AFP.

Reuters photo.

But she said the company will only be able to confirm the trend in November - a peak period for sales of cava ahead of the Christmas holiday season.

Some clients made it very clear that they had stopped buying cava for political reasons, said Rebula.

Freixenet, Spain's biggest cava maker - which is planning to move its headquarters out of Catalonia because of the uncertainty caused by the independence push - said it will only have sales figures by the end of the year.

Barcelona's Chamber of Commerce and Catalan employers' groups have not yet provided figures on the impact of the campaign.

Several prominent figures have appealed for calm, including Josep Borrell, a former European Parliament vice president who is from Catalonia.

"The boycott must stop because the people who will be ruined by it will feel even more anti-Spain," he said earlier this week.

Even Catalonia's regional government criticised the campaign.

"Putting the economy in danger is always an own-goal," Catalonia's business minister, Santi Vila, tweeted.

Source(s): AFP