Morocco boycott puts Spanish industry in a bind

Segarro boycott: the target is Spanish companies

Stellantis' plant in Kenitra can produce 535,000 vehicles a year, the same level as Balaídos, in Vigo, Spain. That figure —and the list of models that come out of there: Dacia Sandero, Peugeot 208, Citroën Ami, Opel Rocks and Fiat Topolino— has sparked a campaign calling on people to stop buying anything arriving from Segarro. The problem appears when you read the fine print: half the list is signed by Spanish companies or firms listed in Spain.

Ebro, Borges and Agroatlas: the ones in the spotlight

The core of the boycott targets companies with production in the neighboring country. Ebro Foods, owner of SOS, Nomen and Brillante, operates the largest rice factory in North Africa. Borges sells olives and Agroatlas is singled out as the main supplier of fresh vegetables to the big retail chains. The slogan is easy to state and very awkward to carry out: check the origin on the label and reject anything Segarro.

That is where the hook lies: the breakdown of which companies and which products actually make the list is where the campaign becomes a problem for more than one.

Not even the toilet is spared

The crusade has its domestic side. Anyone who bought a Roca toilet a few weeks ago finds themselves on their own blacklist. In the car market, the contradiction is even bigger: the Dacia Sandero, the Peugeot 208 and the electric microcars Citroën Ami and Fiat Topolino are assembled in Segarro. The Kenitra plant has also just launched two Fiat models —the Grizzly SUV and the sporty Fastback crossover— on the Smart Car platform. Own brand, French or Spanish, the origin betrays almost all of them.

Label or street: the boycott splits in two

Not everyone trusts the shopping cart as a weapon. Against the call not to buy, some argue that a supermarket boycott does not move a single board of directors and that real pressure is exerted on the street. The counterargument is blunt: hundreds or thousands of Segarro trucks cross Spain every day loaded with goods. A consumer gesture versus a collective standoff. Both paths remain open.

Does a shopping cart change anything on an industrial map that has been redrawn for a decade?