The distributors' association in the Balearics has apparently been receiving requests from hoteliers, restaurant owners and also supermarkets for a boycott of products from Catalonia.
There is, says the association's president Bartomeu Servera, some pressure to change the origin of products coming to the islands. He adds that the association is looking into this, as it has to respond to its clients.
It would seem that it is mainly the hotel and restaurant sectors which are leading this call. But there are some supermarkets as well, or so it is said. Servera explains that it isn't just one or two businesses but dozens.
In any event, because of the uncertain situation in Catalonia, there are thoughts about switching to other ports to supply the Balearics. Overwhelmingly, it is Barcelona which is the main supply port. Tarragona is also used but to a very much lesser extent. But to go outside Catalonia to Valencia would entail a significant logistical upheaval. Barcelona doesn't of course just supply products from Catalonia; the port is used to ship products from other countries.
From the point of view of hotels, restaurants and supermarkets, it isn't that they necessarily want to change the origin of products; it is more a case of what their customers think.
As previously reported in the Bulletin, there are concerns in Catalonia about a boycott of Catalonia goods, and obviously not only a boycott in the Balearics. Antonio Garamendi, the president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations, has said that a boycott would be bad news for Spain as well as for Catalonia.