More than 50 years of history are in danger. The company Harinera Lanzaroteña, the only one on the island that manufactures flour, may close as a result of the "fierce attacks" that it claims to be receiving from Gran Canaria. According to its owner, Agustín Márquez, "from this larger island they are exercising an alleged dumping." That is, the company Haricana has set a lower price for exported goods than for the same products sold in the country. This ultimately means that factories operating in the same market cannot compete with the price, so Harinera Lanzaroteña is going through an extremely difficult situation.
The company Haricana has proposed to Harinera Lanzaroteña, located in Arrecife, that it manufactures in Gran Canaria, which would cause the disappearance of the factory in Lanzarote. "They have told us to make apartments on the site," Márquez indicated. The same is happening with two firms that produce this product in Fuerteventura.
"We are not going to accept this offer, we are not going to close", said this conejero who, however, is aware that if subsidies to transport between islands are maintained, Harinera Lanzaroteña will have very difficult survival. These aids, approved by both the Canarian Government and the central Executive, "benefit the large islands and leave the less populated ones in a very unfavorable situation, which have to face a double or triple insularity."
Márquez has opted for granting these aids to the smaller islands and not to the larger ones to "maintain the inter-island economic balance and avoid the death of the industry of the smaller islands." "We are selling at cost price, and we will not endure this situation much longer," he indicated.
Join forces
To try to prevent the company from having to close, Harinera Lanzaroteña will fight jointly with the firms in Fuerteventura to try to "stop" this situation. Also, according to Márquez, he has obtained support from the Cabildo, an institution that has assured them of their help in this matter. "It is a strategic industry, if we close, others will close in a while. It is a wheel that must be stopped," he explained.
His effort to stay afloat now focuses on sending writings to both the Government of the Canary Islands and the central government to "remove" the transport subsidy, "because this will kill the small islands." "They are going to cause a disaster," he warned. "If they do not give us special aid to the smaller islands to transport our wheat, we will have serious problems. Because importing to Lanzarote costs much more than to the capital islands," he qualified.
Márquez maintains hope in saving his company, in which he has spent "a lifetime." "I am not interested in being given money to close the factory and sell apartments. What I want is for my great-great-grandson to see the fruits of my effort, and what the shareholders have invested so that this continues to stand," he concluded.
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