Food industry remains stable sector

The annual Monitor of the Dutch Food Industry Federation (FNLI), which was presented on Thursday 10 October, shows that the food industry in the Netherlands continues to develop in a very stable manner. The future challenges for the sector are, for example, the changed attitude of the US towards trade agreements and, of course, the Brexit. Exports to the United Kingdom rose by 2.1% in 2018, to the sum of EUR 4.6 billion. This will have a major impact on the Dutch food industry.

In addition to the points above, the national and global climate targets pose major challenges for both companies and governments. For the first time, CO2 emissions have also been included in the Food Industry Monitor. Marian Geluk, director of FNLI: "Since 2011, relative CO2 emissions have decreased by an average of 3 percent. The challenge for the coming years will be to achieve an absolute reduction in CO2 emissions."

The Dutch food industry grew by 2.9 percent in 2018. The growth of the total number of companies in the sector also grew by 5.5 percent to a total of 6,525 companies in 2019. This increase is mainly due to the increase in the number of small companies, companies with less than 10 employees. 

Click here for the Monitor Food Industry 2019 (Dutch only)