CASI

“Especialistas en Tomate”

Status: Cooperative since 1944

  • Founded in 1944
  • Headquarters: La Cañada de San Urbano (Almería)

Europe's largest tomato cooperative, often described as the world's first. Born in 1944, when growers from Almería's vegas decided to sell without middlemen.

Official website — casi.es
Logo CASI

In figures

€254.8M
turnover 2023/24
+250M kg
of tomato per season
~2,000 ha
under cultivation
Over a thousand
member growers
120
buyers in the auction hall

About CASI

CASI's story begins in 1944 with a few dozen growers from the vegas around Almería, determined to sell their produce — mostly potatoes back then — directly at the city market. Over the decades the cooperative specialised in tomatoes until it became Europe's largest, with over a thousand member growers and some 2,000 hectares.

Its hallmark is the descending-price auction at Los Partidores, in La Cañada: the produce arrives the evening before, bidding starts at nine in the morning before dozens of buyers, and the day's price sets the reference for the whole sector. Each member packs and transports their own harvest — a model consolidated in the eighties and still alive today.

The cooperative is also part of Alhama's landscape: in September 2019 it opened a centre in the Huéchar industrial estate of Alhama de Almería, welcomed by more than a hundred local growers. In 2024 it certified its water and carbon footprints, with neutrality as its declared goal.

The latest seasons sketch a cooperative in good shape: €232 million in 2018/19, €242 million and a record profit in 2021/22, €254.8 million in 2023/24. Alongside the historic auction, CASI has modernised its industrial muscle with the "CASI Aeropuerto" packing centre in El Alquián, able to prepare some fifty tonnes of tomato an hour.

Façade of CASI's headquarters in La Cañada (2006)
Façade of CASI's headquarters in La Cañada (2006) Photo: Historiacasi · CC BY 3.0
Close-up of Raf tomatoes (ambience image)
Close-up of Raf tomatoes (ambience image) Photo: Fructibus · CC0 1.0
Aerial view of CASI's facilities (2006)
Aerial view of CASI's facilities (2006) Photo: Historiacasi · CC BY-SA 3.0
CASI hall at Los Partidores
CASI hall at Los Partidores Photo: Historiacasi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Historic photograph of CASI's early years
Historic photograph of CASI's early years Photo: Historiacasi · CC BY 3.0

Milestones

  1. Vega growers found the cooperative
  2. 1950s The potato's golden age
  3. First hall at Los Partidores (La Cañada)
  4. 1970s First European exports
  5. 1980s The descending auction becomes the house trademark
  6. Recognised as a producer organisation (OPFH)
  7. Purchase of the Agrupalmería facilities
  8. New centre in Alhama de Almería
  9. Certified water and carbon footprints

Brands and flagship products

  • Tomate Raf Auténtico the taste of La Cañada and Níjar
  • Adora® premium tomato
  • Rebel award-winning brown ribbed
  • Barbaro black tomato
  • Casi Pink pink tomato
  • Princess y Queen of Casi the house watermelons
  • Organic by Casi the organic range

Commitments

  1. 01

    Certified water and carbon footprints (MITECO registry, 2024)

  2. 02

    Carbon neutrality announced as a goal

  3. 03

    Drip irrigation and integrated pest management on the farms

Its produce

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