Now, when you think of exports from the Province of Granada, you think of tropical fruit, vegetables and olive oil, especially the oil, right?

Well, Granada now exports more arms than even olive oil! OK, Jaén and Córdoba are the olive-olive-production big boys but Granada produces a lot, too.

So, who the hell is knocking out arms in Granada? The answer is one of the oldest arms factories in Spain, called El Fargue, which was recently purchased by a Slovak company, MSM Group in 2020.

A wise move indeed, following the Russian occupation of the Crimea and within just two years of the invasion of Ukraine. Now that Europe is rearming, the Granada ammunition factory has become hugely popular with the demand for ammunition, both to rearm and supply Ukraine.

Data published by the Andalucía Trade, shows that the province exported 108,86 million euros in arms and ammunition during the first five months of the year, a 57% increase compared to the same period last year. This makes the arms trade in Granada second only to the export of vegetables, but overtaking olive oil production which accumulated 97 million euros in sales in the same period.

So what are they knocking up inside the factory… and it’s not Christmas crackers! No, production focuses on warheads for missiles and drones, tank and artillery ammunition, and propellants for various calibres.

And who is buying it? Over 90% of production goes to European governments assisting Ukraine, which is hardly surprising as It remains the only arms factory in Spain that produces ammunition for MBT (main battle tanks).

When the Slovakian company bought El Fargue, it only had 60 workers, who probably feared for the jobs – they needn’t have because staff was expanded to a workforce of 300 working 24 hours a day across three shifts with new production lines. And the company could afford to because sales surged from 12.5m euros in 2022 to 199.77m euros by the end of last year.

Well, it’s come a long way since it was inaugurated in 1908 by Alfono XIII, although there are indications of a gunpowder factory there dating back to the Muslim occupation of Spain.

(News: El Fargue, Vega, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Explosive News, Ammunition Factory, Ukraine, Tank Ammunition, Missilse, Slovakian Company

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