A thousand farmers paralyzed the heart of Barcelona this Wednesday with their tractors as well as buses and private vehicles in a demonstration to demand immediate solutions to the "structural crisis" situation the sector is experiencing. The demonstration, called by Unió de Pagesos, mobilized around 200 tractors—according to the organizers' data—coming from various points of the Catalan territory that gathered in front of the headquarters of the State government delegation, the Department of Agriculture, and the Palau de la Generalitat. The march blocked a large part of Passeig de Gràcia and Via Laietana for more than four hours—with impacts on different bus lines—and also caused slow-moving traffic in both directions of the Ronda Litoral when the farmers were returning home.

The European Commission anticipates that the upcoming vote in the European Parliament to ratify the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay) will be "hard-fought". While there is still no defined date for the European Parliament to issue its position – it is estimated that it will take at least a year, pending a judicial resolution from the Court of Justice of the European Union–, sources from the community executive highlight the strong "political burden" of the debate and point out that there will be "many factors" that could enter into the equation.

The Generalitat is launching an unprecedented offensive in the wine sector to assess whether grapes are being purchased below their production cost. As ARA has learned, the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food is investigating a total of 50 contracts suspected of infringing the Food Chain Law 16/2021, the state-level regulation that prohibits this practice. As sources close to the department point out, the inspections began in August, some of which were prompted by complaints from farmers, organizations, or other professionals in the sector, and others initiated ex officio.

American academics Robert Hall (Palo Alto, 1943) and Michael Woodford (Chicopee, 1955) have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Economics for their studies on "microeconomic foundations and macroeconomic stabilization", as announced this Monday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, once again claims the need for housing opportunities to be guaranteed in Catalonia and throughout the State, after the death this Wednesday of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old woman who became a symbol of the fight for the right to a home following her eviction in Madrid. During a meeting with BBVA and Mexican businessmen held this Thursday at the Pedralbes Palace in Barcelona, Illa equated the current situation in the housing sector with the impact suffered by the productive sector after the outbreak of COVID-19.

The sparkling wine brand Corpinnat expects to close this year's campaign with better figures than the previous year despite the effects of climate change. With the harvest practically finished, the wineries linked to the association expect to exceed three million bottles sold in 2025, a volume that translated into a turnover of 34.1 million euros.

The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) questions the measures promoted by the Spanish government to stabilize the price of olive oil during the 2026-2027 season. The new regulation, proposed this summer, stipulates the withdrawal of a portion of olive oil production in the event of an excess of supply. Specifically, the mechanism designed by the central executive will be activated when the initial stocks plus oil production exceed at least 120% of the average production of the two highest marketing years of the last six seasons. In the event of exceeding this limit, the sector would have to withdraw, at most, 20% of the estimated production.

Spanish banks closed the second quarter of 2026 reaching profitability figures never seen since records began. According to the data published this Monday by the Bank of Spain, the profitability of all credit institutions in the country stood at 16.05%, one and a half points higher than the same period last year. The sector's good performance in terms of productivity, however, clashes with the climate of tension felt among the workforce. Just last week, the services federation of Comissions Obreres (CCOO) –the trade union with the most representation in the Spanish banking and financial sector– called for demonstrations on October 15 and November 4 in front of the main Spanish institutions in a dozen cities to demand better working conditions for employees.

The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Food and Fisheries, Òscar Ordeig (Vic, 1978) traveled last week to China to kick off a promotional campaign for Catalan sausages and wines in the Asian giant, led by Prodeca. The country has traditionally been one of the largest importers of Catalan agri-food products and, despite the effects of African swine fever, Catalonia seems determined to continue betting on this market. However, in a more convulsive environment and a changing economy, the executive branch advocates for a change of model that puts aside growth based on volume and leans more towards claiming quality.

Surrounded by a strong smell of liquorice and equipped with gloves and hairnets, operators knead blocks of a tar-black color with an elasticity similar to bread dough. They place them on various trays to let them dry while, in another room, the pastes that have already completed their resting process are rolled and cut into small portions to then be packaged. The image, straddling the scenes of a bakery and those of a pharmaceutical laboratory, is the day-to-day life inside the Juanola lozenge factory, located in Sant Quirze del Vallès (Vallès Occidental). The legendary cough drop brand is celebrating 120 years and is doing so by preserving the essence of its product, while at the same time opening up to new business lines to reinvent itself for the future.

The Euribor, the benchmark indicator for the majority of variable-rate mortgages in the State, has closed the month of September at 3.247%, the highest level since July 2024, according to preliminary data published this Wednesday by the Bank of Spain.

Anthropic, the company that created Claude, warns that artificial intelligence could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity". In the midst of preparing for one of the most anticipated stock market debuts of the year, and with the goal of obtaining new funding to boost its business, the company is now issuing a warning that, on paper, should scare rather than encourage its potential investors.

The European Commission, concerned about the European Union's loss of competitiveness compared to China and the United States, has long been repeating a mantra to reverse the situation: EU citizens need to invest more and have the means to do so.

The French neobank Qonto, specialized in offering solutions to shorten management times for SMEs, enters a new phase of growth in Europe with the inauguration of its headquarters in the heart of Paris, an 11,000 square meter space located in the city's business and technology district, the Silicon Sentier, also known as the French Silicon Valley.

The Codorníu Raventós group has announced the sale of its California winery –Artesa Winery– to winemaker Jean-Charles Boisset, owner of the French wine sector company Boisset. In a statement issued this Wednesday, the company argues that the operation is a response to "a strategic review of the portfolio aimed at focusing investments and resources on regions that are priorities for the company." As company sources have detailed to ARA, Codorníu is divesting its entire stake in the capital of the American winery.

The wine group Raventós Codorníu, owned by the North American private equity fund Carlyle, closed the 2026 fiscal year –from July 1st of last year to June 30th of this year– with a new revenue record while it continues working to find a buyer. According to the data presented this Tuesday at an event in Barcelona, the company achieved gross sales of 234 million euros, a figure that represents an improvement of 1% in year-on-year terms. Likewise, the net profit rose to 14 million euros, surpassing the 12 million in earnings corresponding to the previous fiscal year.

Catalonia is once again recording a new record in tourist arrivals and closes an unprecedented summer. Despite the heat waves and the rise in ticket prices due to the effects derived from the conflict in the Middle East, the country received almost 2.9 million visitors in hotels this month of August, a figure that represents an increase of 5.6% compared to the same period last year and a figure never seen in the entire historical series, which collects information since 1999.

After an initial half-hearted rollout, Bizum is stepping on the accelerator to consolidate itself as a payment alternative in shops, bars, and restaurants in the country. This Monday, the service provider announced that more than 1.6 million businesses in the country already accept in-person transfers through its platform, a figure equivalent to 75% of bank terminals throughout Spain. According to data provided by the company itself, payments with Bizum are already available to 60% of the platform's users, nearly 20 million people. In these data, the company takes into account both payments that can be completed through the banking applications of some entities and through Bizum Pay, the digital wallet developed by the same platform and which can be downloaded on iOS and Android mobile systems.

The news fell like a lead weight on millions of Americans. On April 1st, Danone made official the discontinuation of its coffee-flavored yogurt –Dannon Coffee Yogurt, also known by the acronym DYC– in the United States, a product with 85 years of history and wildly loved by a large number of consumers. In a recent article, the Wall Street Journal had even defined it as "the main reason for Americans to get out of bed." Since then, collective madness has taken hold of the most loyal fans, who are filling social media with petitions to demand the return of the product while looking for formulas to recreate it as accurately as possible.

The Iran war triggers the profitability of the energy sector in the State to historical highs. According to a report published this Tuesday by the economic cabinet of Comissions Obreres (CCOO), the margin on sales —obtained by dividing the gross operating profit by total revenue— was 24.5% at the close of the second quarter of 2026, a figure never before recorded that is three points higher than last year's and more than double compared to the fiscal years prior to the outbreak of the pandemic.