The Berrocal Cork Cooperative, a pioneer in Andalusia since 1976, faces closure after losing all expected production in the Niebla fire. Members will decide this Thursday whether to convert into a forest nursery.
The Berrocal Cork Cooperative has loaded what may be its last cork trucks this week. The goods, salvaged from the flames, have departed for Jerez de los Caballeros, in Badajoz. The entity, founded in 1976 and the only one in its sector in Andalusia, is left without raw material after the fire in Niebla destroyed the production it expected to harvest from its members' forests, as reported by Huelva Información.
The fire affected nearly 40,000 hectares, and Berrocal was the hardest-hit municipality. The cork that was supposed to sustain the cooperative's activity for the coming years was located in its forests. Without this foundation, the continuity of the entity under current conditions is unfeasible.
This is not the first time that fire has struck the cork industry in the area. The fire in 2004, which affected around 28,000 hectares, resulted in a loss of about 60% of production at that time. The activity tried to recover in the following years, but this summer's disaster has been a much harder blow to bear.
For half a century, the cooperative has been one of the economic pillars of a municipality with barely 300 inhabitants. Members are called to a meeting this Thursday to decide what future the entity may have. Among the alternatives on the table is its possible conversion into a forest nursery, a formula that would attempt to preserve at least part of the activity and employment.
“Fifty years after loading its first trucks, Berrocal has seen its last ones leave this week”
The disappearance of the cooperative would pose a new problem for a village with few economic alternatives, now facing the consequences of a fire that did not end when the last flame was extinguished. Thursday's meeting will determine whether the entity converts or is definitively extinguished.
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