Aragón declares the Piensos Costa factory in PLHUS of regional interest

The Government of Aragon has declared the “Quicena-Huesca. Piensos Costa” project, promoted by the company Piensos Costa, SA, as an investment of regional interest with general interest for Aragon, which involves relocating its feed factory from Quicena to the Huesca Industrial Logistics Platform (PLHUS). The agreement was adopted at the Government meeting on September 2, 2026, and is published in the Official Gazette of Aragon number 188, dated September 28, 2026, via ORDER ECE/1378/2026, dated September 10 (official reference BOA20260928014). The declaration entails the processing of the project as a Plan of General Interest of Aragon (PIGA) and the designation of Piensos Costa, SA as the definitive promoter.

The legal framework applied is that of Article 7 bis of Decree-Law 1/2008, of October 30, of the Government of Aragon, as amended by Decree-Law 4/2019, of January 30, which allows the declaration of regional interest to also imply general interest for land-use planning purposes. The agreement was adopted upon the joint proposal of the Minister of Economy, Competitiveness, and Employment, Eva Valle Maestro, and the Minister of Housing, Public Works, Logistics, and Territorial Cohesion.

The operation stems from the Collaboration Protocol of January 22, 2025, and the Development Agreement of February 4, 2026, signed between the Government of Aragon, Aragón Plataforma Logística, SAU, Suelo y Vivienda de Aragón, SLU, and Piensos Costa, SA. The request for the declaration was submitted by the company on April 22, 2026, accompanied by a justifying report.

A meat group with 1,250 farms and headquarters in Fraga

The report certifies the solvency of the promoter: Piensos Costa, SA is the parent company of an Aragonese industrial group of more than 40 companies, headquartered in Fraga (Huesca), which presents itself as the second largest livestock company in Spain and the third largest in Europe according to the National Hog Farmer’s 2023 Mega Producers list.

• It exports to 107 countries and generates more than 5,000 direct and integrated jobs.
• It has 1,250 farms, many of which are in rural areas with a serious risk of depopulation.
• The group’s turnover was 1,536,627,285 euros in 2025 and Piensos Costa, SA’s was 781,151,260 euros, with net results of 70,695,146 and 57,762,309 euros respectively.
• The holding Costa FoodGroup reached an aggregate turnover of 2.2 billion euros in 2025.
• The group is promoting the Ebro Valley Agri-Food Logistics Center (CLAVE) in Villamayor de Gállego, with an investment of 896 million euros.

Three sub-areas: Quicena, Machinery Park, and PLHUS

The scope of the PIGA is organized into three distinct zones, whose UTM delimitation coordinates appear in the annex of the agreement:

• Quicena: eight plots, five of which belong to Piensos Costa, SA, totaling 63,092 m²; it will house protected housing and, if applicable, the future Machinery Park.
• Huesca-Machinery Park: two plots on Bielsa Street numbers 1 and 2, owned by the Government of Aragon, totaling 8,153 m², destined for protected housing, green areas, and facilities.
• Huesca-PLHUS: five plots belonging to Aragón Plataforma Logística, SAU totaling 136,499 m², where the new factory will be located.

The investment is divided between the purchase and sale of plots 13, 14B, and 15B of PLHUS for 3,537,450 euros and a purchase option for plots 19B and 20A valued at 2,605,005 euros. The budget for the factory amounts to 30,343,810 euros, the railway siding to 3,612,310 euros, and the photovoltaic installations to 791,010 euros; the total CAPEX of the operation reaches 38,284,580 euros, with a minimum committed investment of 20,000,000 euros and an estimated IRR of around 12%.

Employment, public housing, and committed deadlines

The agreement establishes specific commitments for the developer and the public companies:

• Double the direct employment in the new facilities compared to the Quicena factory, up to 28 workers, and increase indirect logistics jobs from 23 to 139 positions.
• Present the execution project for the new factory within two months from the publication of the agreement.
• Execute the first phase of the works in PLHUS within a maximum period of two years from obtaining the enabling titles.
• Close the activity in Quicena and hand over the properties to Suelo y Vivienda de Aragón, SLU within a maximum period of six months from the start of activity in PLHUS.
• Put the railway siding into service within three years from the signing of the agreement.
• Develop protected housing with an indicative forecast of 200 homes in Quicena and 86 on the Machinery Park land, with urbanization of 3,190,000 euros in Quicena and maintenance for fifteen years.

Favorable reports and urgent processing

Five management centers issued favorable reports on the declaration: Logistics Planning and Territorial Planning (July 10 and August 26, 2026), Energy and Mines (July 13), Industry, Competitiveness, Innovation, and Business Digital Transformation (July 15), Food Quality and Safety (July 24), and Economic Policy (July 28). The complementary report from August warns that, before relocating the Machinery Park, the Government of Aragon will analyze location alternatives and may opt for land other than that in Quicena.

The declaration implies that all authorization, execution, and development procedures for the project will be given preferential and urgent priority, with ordinary deadlines reduced by half, and entails a declaration of public utility and social interest for expropriation purposes. The project is part of the Aragón Más Vivienda 2024-2030 Plan and the Special Guideline for Public Endowment Housing approved by Decree 128/2024, of July 17.

The impact for readers is twofold: it consolidates a strategic agri-food industry in the Hoya de Huesca region with more than 38 million euros of investment and 139 associated jobs, and it releases urban land in Quicena and in the center of Huesca for protected housing in a market with price increases close to 9% year-on-year and strained rentals.

Source: Official Gazette of Aragón, number 188, of September 28, 2026, section III. Other Provisions and Agreements (official reference: BOA20260928014).