Peeled tomatoes, sweet red peppers, peas, artichokes, champignon de Paris, asparagus, 
French beans, and olives are also canned in consumer and institutional-size cans. 
Quality 
One of the major problems facing the Spanish canning industry is quality control. In the 
past there has been wide variation between individual canners and, at times, between the packs of 
individual canners. However, according to the U.K. importing trade, a slow continuing improve- 
ment in the quality of consumer-size canned peaches, apricots, and fruit salad has been noted. 
To insure a greater acceptance of Spanish canned fruits in the importing countries, some 
of the leading canners reportedly are considering establishing minimum standards--similar to 
those of Australia and South Africa--for their export packs, 
Sugar 
Refined sugar is available to Spanish canners at the world market price rather than the 
artificially high internal price. Sugar imports are allowed free of duties and taxes if intended 
for export in processed form. 
Can Manufacture 
Each canner--even the smallest--makes his own tin cans, A few of the larger canners use 
modern equipment--power-operated slitters, trimmers, Italian-made body machines, compound 
coating machines for tin can ends, and high-speed double seamers. But the majority of the can- 
ners are less well equipped and, in most instances, the work is largely done by hand. All can- 
ners have double seamers for making 5-kilo tins. 
In the Murcia area, there is a can-manufacturing plant. It has been in operation for nearly 
2 years. The equipment is of Italian manufacture and consists of two completely automatic high- 
speed lines, one for the 5-kilo tins and the other adjustable for the principal consumer-size 
16-ounce tins. The factory is operating to capacity, supplementing so far as possible each 
canner's own tin can manufacture. In the summer of 1960, an expert from one of the United 
States' largest can manufacturing companies was endeavoring tocorrect mechanical ills--mainly 
in the 5-kilo line--which reportedly have beset the factory since it opened. 
Most canners stated that they would stop making their own cans when they could be assured 
that the can factory would provide their entire tin can requirements. This statement was made 
despite the fact that many canners could import tinplate and make their own cans cheaper than 
they could buy ready-made cans. Canners realized that good-quality ready-made cans would 
improve the appearance and standardize can sizes ofthe Spanishcanned fruit pack, 
The cost of tinplate. is roughly $40 per 112 sheets (28''x20'') or per 160 pounds f.o.b., 
British ports. 
Spanish production of tinplate is inadequate for cannery requirements; thus, large amounts 
of foreign tinplate must be imported. England, the United States, and France are the usual 
supplying countries. At one time, foreign exchange limitations restricted tinplate imports, and 
in some cases the canning industry was unable to operate at capacity. This is not true in Spain 
now, An adequate supply of tinplate can be obtained since its importation was liberalized in 1959. 
Labels and Labeling 
In developing labels for its export pack of canned deciduous fruit, the Spanish canning 
industry follows the axiom, ''The client buys with the eyes, a poorly presented product sells 
poorly." ‘ 
Many Spanish labels are generally equal to those of the United States. Canners reported 
that their labels meet present labeling requirements of the United Kingdom and Western 
European countries, 
14 
