Food industry turnover rose 19.6 per cent

Food industry turnover rose 19.6 per cent in July this year compared to July last year. At the beginning of July this year, three quarters of food industry entrepreneurs did suffer from production constraints and that number is likely to rise. This is according to an analysis of recent CBS figures by our editors.

Food industry turnover up by almost a quarter in first seven months

In the first seven months of this year, food industry turnover increased by 23.4 per cent compared to the same period last year. Exports grew more (+24.3 per cent) than domestic sales (+22.3 per cent) in this period. July's sales growth was the lowest this year with February's increase (+17.3 per cent). The peak in sales growth so far this year was reached in May (+33.1 per cent).

Larger companies food industry count most rapid turnover risers

In the second quarter this year, turnover rose at 91 per cent of the largest food industry companies (250 or more employees). Among companies with 100 to 250 persons employed, turnover grew at 85 per cent of companies. The label fast grower (increase of more than 20 per cent) was reserved for 50 per cent of very largest companies and 52 per cent of companies with 100 to 250 persons employed. As companies in the food industry are smaller, the percentage of turnover growers also decreases: among the smallest companies (1 person employed), the number of turnover growers in the second quarter was the smallest at 65 per cent and the number of turnover fallers was the largest (33 per cent). In only 9 per cent of the largest companies, turnover fell in the second quarter. Rapid turnover declines (fall of more than 20 per cent) did not occur among the largest food industry companies in the second quarter, while at 19 per cent of the smallest companies, turnover did fall by more than 20 per cent.  

Labour shortage biggest constraint for food industry

Over 75 per cent of food industry entrepreneurs said they were unable to produce optimally in early July due to various constraints. For instance, almost a third of the entrepreneurs said that a shortage of staff in particular hampers their own production. For a quarter, a shortage of means of production in particular was the biggest obstacle, while insufficient demand was cited as the main bottleneck by almost 9 per cent of entrepreneurs. Financial constraints are rare in the food industry (1.1 per cent). Only one in four entrepreneurs said in early July that they had no obstacles at all in production.