increased competition in the export markets can be expected by the Australian, South African, 
and U.S. industries, 
Spanish canners realize that to maintain and improve their position in the export market a 
consistently high-grade product is a must. The smaller canners who cannot or will not packa 
consistent-quality, attractively packaged product will gradually disappear. Replacing them will 
be large canners who have the required knowledge and capital. 
Canneries 
Murcia is the center of Spain's fruit and vegetable canning industry. Of Spain's approxi- 
mate 200 canning plants, about 150 are located inthis area. Most of the remaining plants are 
in the Valencia area. 
In the Murcia area--as in the other areas--the canning plants are scattered among the 
deciduous producing districts and vary greatly in size, capacity, and the products canned. In the 
Murcia area, some of the larger plants are located in Alcantarilla, El Palmar, Molina de Segura, 
Beniajon, Centi, and Murcia. Torrente, Alcira, and Valencia are important locations for canning 
plants in the Valencia area, 
According to Spain's trade, about 90 percent of the fruit ''pulp'' and 70 percent of the fruits 
canned in sirup are packed in Murcia. It appears likely that the canners in the Murcia area will 
expand their canned fruits operation and increase the percentage and amount of fruits canned 
in sirup. It is the canners in the Murcia area who seem to be making Spanish canned fruits 
known in the export markets. 
In equipment, most canneries are quite old fashioned compared to fruit-packing establish- 
ments elsewhere. 
In a few smaller canneries, even simple fruit conveyors are not used. Girls bring fruit 
and cans to the preparation tables and carry away the filled cans to be hand-siruped and sealed. 
Other larger canneries use various types of conveyors and sorting belts--some reasonably 
efficient, some not. 
In the plants visited, two types of mechanical peach pitters were seen--one a Spanish- 
built simple hand-operated device and the other an automatic machine which cut the peach and 
pit in half. In most plants, peach pitting is strictly a hand operation, Even plants which have 
pitters often use hand pittings because of less fruit waste. 
Also, fruit is sliced by hand, and generally put into the cans by hand. 
In two plants visited, up-to-date automatic revolving sirupers were in operation. All the 
other factories visited conveyed the fruit-filled cans under a hole-lined siruping pipe. 
No vacuum closing machines were in evidence--old-fashioned exhaust boxes were being 
used instead, Most plants used open vat water cookers. In only two of the plants visited were 
continuous cookers and coolers in evidence. 
Many types and vintages of double seamers were in use--from slow hand-fed machines to 
automatic 60-can-per-minute seamers. 
Generally speaking, in the plants visited, regardless of lack of modern equipment and 
despite various operating methods, basic fundamentals of canning were being observed: Proper 
washing and preparation of raw material, exhausting, cooking, cooling, and so forth. Also, there 
was some grading of fresh fruit, especially peaches in those plants using mechanical pitters,. 
The canneries almost without exception--large or small, primitive or partly mechanized-- 
were clean, and sanitation was excellent. 
Well-equipped quality-control laboratories were observed in two plants visited. A few 
canneries had modern storage units for holding and ripening fruit, and all canneries appeared 
to have adequate warehouse space. Most cans are stacked bright. 
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