The study of consumption and origin of food in Mallorca 2023, commissioned by the Directorate General of Food Sovereignty (now Agri-Food Quality and Local Product) with the main objective of knowing the attitude, post-pandemic, of consumers and consumers of the Island about the origin of the food they buy, as well as to know the degree of consumption of different categories of food and the origin of the food consumed, and see the evolution of the perception of consumers in comparison in the study prepared in 2018 shows that, compared to the data of 2018, the evolution of the influence of the origin in the decision of the purchase of consumers of Mallorca evolves very positively, since, in all categories of food, more than half of the respondents say they consume products of local origin. Data that, in the words of the General Director of Agrifood Quality and Local Product, Joan Llabrés, show that “consumers increasingly value and demand local products”.

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The fieldwork was developed in Mallorca and 1,019 people residing in Mallorca were interviewed – 79.98% women and 20.02% men – who bought food, twice as many respondents as in 2018.

The study data reflect that, in the evolution of the shopping basket from 2018 to 2023, there are no major variations in the purchase of foods of plant origin. However, regarding foods of animal origin, the consumption of meat (from 97% to 94%), fish (from 95% to 93%), eggs (from 99% to 93%) and milk (from 96% to 91%) decreases, which can be attributed to an increase in the price of these products, significantly higher than the rise suffered by the rest of food products. There is also an increase in the consumption of cheese (from 90% to 95%); the purchase of olive oil also drops significantly (from 99% to 83%), which is related to the increase in prices. About wine, 55% buy it, a figure that has not changed.

Regarding the evolution of the influence of origin in the purchase decision (2018-2023), except for salt and wine, buyers have evolved in favour of the purchase of foods originating in the Balearic Islands, especially in the case of meat (from 42% to 66%), cheese (from 63% to 85%), fish (from 41% to 70%), milk (from 34% to 50%) and olive oil (from 55% to 69%). “We have also seen an improvement in the predisposition of the people of Mallorca for the purchase of food from the Balearic Islands, but this predisposition does not always materialize in the actual purchase, since what consumers say does not correspond to the marketing data,” stresses general manager Joan Llabrés. In this sense, from Agrifood Quality and Local Product “we are working with the sector to improve the indication of origin of the Balearic Islands in our products, to avoid consumer confusion, in addition to making an intense promotion of our local product, so that the intention to purchase that the consumer manifests becomes more effective”.