Local shoe manufacturers to attend trade fairs in 11 different countries

Menorcan products on sale in a leading German chain store

Cheese. One of the most popular local exports

Food items from the Balearic Islands, including local gin and cheese, will be accompanied by an informative leaflet giving the tradition behind each product

C.M.W..Maó

The leading chain of department stores in Germany, Kaufhof, has started to stock products from the Balearic Islands, including gin and cheese from Menorca. These will be accompanied by an explanatory leaflet giving the tradition accompanying the products.

Various types of sausage, oil, confectionery, citrus fruits, and wines are also included in the delicacies which will be on offer in 29 of the chain´s branches from May. Kaufhof (Germany´s version of Spain´s El Corte Inglés) has 129 outlets in Germany and sells to an average of 2 million clients per year, bringing in 3,800 million euros.

The company´s Head of Sales, Reinhard Dittmar, visited Mallorca last week to talk to producers of the 200 food products which come from the Baleares. He said that "we believe that so many Germans came to the islands for their holidays that this promotional iniciative will be a way of evoking pleasant memories of their stay in the Balearics".

Between 2002 and 2004 the export of food products from the Balearic Islands to Germany rose by 50%, a figure which will hopefully increase still further with this latest iniciative.

Local shoes on show in foreign lands

The Menorcan shoe industry is also trying to increase its area of influence abroad.

In a concerted campaign, the sector is to take 115 stands at 34 trade fairs in 11 different countries, including those currently being held in Dusseldorf, Germany and Milan, Italy.

These will be followed by exhibitions in England, France, Russia and Belgium during the remainder of March and April, and later fairs in the U.S.A., China, Japan and Australia.