Archive:Manufacture of food products statistics - NACE Rev. 2
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- Data from April 2013. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article presents an overview of statistics for food products manufacturing in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 10.
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(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_ind_r2)
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(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_ind_r2)
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Main statistical findings
Structural profile
There were 264.1 thousand enterprises operating with food products manufacturing (Division 10) as their main activity in the EU-27 in 2010. Together they employed 4.1 million persons, equivalent to 3.1 % of all persons employed in the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) and 13.6 % of the total number of persons employed in manufacturing (Section C). They generated EUR 158.0 billion of value added which was 2.8 % of the non-financial business economy total and 10.5 % of the manufacturing total. At the NACE division level, this was the largest sector within manufacturing in 2010 in terms of employment and the second largest in terms of value added, smaller only than the manufacture of machinery and equipment (Division 28).
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27’s food products manufacturing sector in 2010 was EUR 40.8 thousand of value added per person employed, below not only the manufacturing average of EUR 52.8 thousand per person employed but also the non-financial business economy average of EUR 44.8 thousand per person employed. Alongside this low apparent labour productivity, average personnel costs within the EU-27’s food products manufacturing sector were EUR 26.0 thousand per employee which was also lower than the averages recorded across the whole of manufacturing and the non-financial business economy (EUR 35.8 thousand and EUR 30.9 thousand per employee respectively). Combining these two indicators into the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio shows that value added per person employed in the EU-27’s food products manufacturing sector in 2010 was equivalent to 157.1 % of average personnel costs per employee. This ratio was above the manufacturing average of 148.0 % and also the non-financial business economy average of 144.8 %.
The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) of the EU-27’s food products manufacturing sector in 2010 was 8.3 %, slightly below the manufacturing (9.0 %) and non-financial business economy (10.1 %) averages.
Sectoral analysis
Close to three in every five (58.4 %) enterprises within the EU-27’s food products manufacturing sector manufactured bakery and farinaceous products and were thus classified in NACE Group 10.7. The second largest enterprise population among the subsectors (15.1 % of the sectoral total) concerned the processing and preserving of meat and meat production (Group 10.1). These two subsectors were also the largest in terms of employment, followed by the manufacture of other food products (Group 10.8) — see Figure 1. In value added terms, these three subsectors were also the largest, although their relative importance changed, as the sectoral share generated by other food products manufacturing (23.3 %) was greater than that for the processing and preserving of meat and meat production (18.7 %); the largest subsector remained bakery and farinaceous products manufacturing with a 24.4 % share.
The low apparent labour productivity figure for the whole of the EU-27’s food products manufacturing sector was pulled downwards in 2010 by the two largest subsectors (in terms of the number of enterprises and employment), namely bakery and farinaceous products manufacturing and processing and preserving of meat and meat production — as these two subsectors recorded apparent labour productivity ratios of EUR 26.7 thousand and EUR 32.9 thousand per person employed respectively. Three other subsectors recorded an apparent labour productivity below the manufacturing average, namely the processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs (Group 10.2) — which was also below the non-financial business economy average — the processing and preserving of fruit and vegetables (Group 10.3), and the manufacture of dairy products (Group 10.5, 2009 data). The four remaining food products manufacturing subsectors all recorded apparent labour productivity ratios that were above the manufacturing average, with prepared animal feeds manufacturing (Group 10.9) recording the highest productivity (EUR 70.0 thousand per person employed). By contrast, only two subsectors recorded average personnel costs above the manufacturing average, namely prepared animal feeds manufacturing and the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (Group 10.4).
In seven of the nine food products manufacturing NACE groups the EU-27 wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio exceeded the non-financial business economy (144.8 %) and manufacturing (148.0 %) averages, the two exceptions being the two largest subsectors — processing and preserving of meat and meat production (140.0 %) and bakery and farinaceous products manufacturing (133.2 %). The highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios were recorded for the manufacture of grain mill products, starches and starch products (Group 10.6; 198.3 %) and prepared animal feeds manufacturing (195.0 %).
By contrast, EU-27 gross operating rates for the food products manufacturing subsectors in 2010 were more evenly distributed around the manufacturing average (9.0 %), with four above and five below this rate. The lowest gross operating rate was recorded for the processing and preserving of meat and meat production (5.2 %), whereas the highest rates were recorded for bakery and farinaceous products manufacturing and the manufacture of other food products (both 12.1 %).
Country analysis
The largest food products manufacturing sector was in Germany, which accounted for 17.7 % of the EU-27’s value added in 2010. The next largest Member States, by this measure, were France, the United Kingdom and Italy, each with more than 10 % of the EU-27 total. Germany and France were the only Member States to account for more than 10 % of the EU-27’s food products manufacturing workforce in 2010, with Poland and Italy just under this level. The four largest Member States in the food products manufacturing sector accounted for a smaller share of EU-27 value added and employment than was typical for manufacturing as a whole, underlining the relatively widespread nature of this activity compared with manufacturing as a whole: in other words, food products manufacturing displayed less geographical concentration and specialisation than manufacturing as a whole. Among the nine food products manufacturing subsectors, the United Kingdom was the largest producer (based on value added) for four activities, Germany and Spain for two each, and France for one.
Based on shares of non-financial business economy value added, Ireland was the most specialised EU Member State in food products manufacturing, as it generated 6.4 % of its non-financial business economy value added in this sector. The next most specialised Member States in 2010 were Lithuania (4.9 % of non-financial business economy value added was in food products manufacturing) and Poland (4.4 %). The least specialised Member States were Sweden and Slovakia, the only countries where the contribution of food products manufacturing to non-financial business economy value added was less than 2.0 %, a situation that was repeated in Switzerland. Table 3 shows the Member State most specialised in each of the subsectors.
By far the highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio in the food products manufacturing sector in 2010 was recorded in Ireland, with apparent labour productivity equivalent to 372.2 % of average personnel costs; this was the second highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio recorded among all NACE divisions within the Irish non-financial business economy. The next highest ratio was recorded in Bulgaria (198.5 %), closely followed by Romania (196.4 %), the United Kingdom (193.8 %) and Poland (193.3 %). Ireland and the United Kingdom were the only Member States to record gross operating rates above 10.0 % in this sector in 2010; Greece also recorded a gross operating rate above 10.0 % in 2009.
Size class analysis
There were 258.7 thousand small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, employing fewer than 250 persons) within the EU-27’s food products manufacturing sector in 2010. Together they employed 2.6 million persons — equivalent to 64.1 % of the total number of persons employed. In terms of their contribution to sectoral value added, the share of SMEs was considerably smaller, at 52.1 %. Although accounting for more than half of the food products manufacturing sector’s value added and employment the role of SMEs in this sector was slightly smaller than in the non-financial business economy as a whole, where they employed 67.5 % of the workforce and generated 57.5 % of the value added.
SMEs provided more than two thirds of the food products manufacturing sector’s value added in Estonia, Italy, Bulgaria and Portugal and this share peaked close to four fifths (79.8 %) in Cyprus. By far the smallest contributions by SMEs (in value added terms) were in the United Kingdom (27.7 %) and Ireland (22.7 %). Micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons) were particularly important in Greece (2009 data) and France, where they contributed more than one fifth of sectoral value added, while small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons) provided more than one quarter of total value added in Portugal and Italy. In six EU Member States, medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons) generated more value added than in any of the other size classes shown in Table 6b: these were Portugal, Slovakia, Cyprus, Latvia, Estonia and Bulgaria. In all of the remaining Member States for which data are available, large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) contributed a greater share of sectoral value added than any of the other size classes.
Data sources and availability
The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) and size class data, all of which are published annually.
The main series provides information for each EU Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.
In structural business statistics, size classes are generally defined by the number of persons employed. A limited set of the standard structural business statistics variables (for example, the number of enterprises, turnover, persons employed and value added) are analysed by size class, mostly down to the three-digit (group) level of NACE. The main size classes used in this article for presenting the results are:
- small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): with 1 to 249 persons employed, further divided into;
- micro enterprises: with less than 10 persons employed;
- small enterprises: with 10 to 49 persons employed;
- medium-sized enterprises: with 50 to 249 persons employed;
- large enterprises: with 250 or more persons employed.
Context
This article presents an overview of statistics for the food products manufacturing sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 10. This division includes the processing of the products of agriculture, forestry and fishing into food for humans or animals, and includes the production of various intermediate products that are not directly food products. The activity often generates associated products of greater or lesser value (for example, hides from slaughtering, or oilcake from oil production). Production can be carried out for own account, as well as for third parties, as in custom slaughtering.
Some activities are considered manufacturing (for example, those performed in bakeries, pastry shops, and prepared meat shops and so on which sell their own production) even though there is retail sale of the products in the producers’ own shop. However, where the processing is minimal and does not lead to a real transformation, the unit is classified to wholesale and retail trade (Section G).
This NACE division is organised by activities dealing with different kinds of products:
- the processing and preserving of meat and production of meat products, including the production of hides and skins originating from slaughterhouses and the production of feathers and down (Group 10.1);
- the processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs (Group 10.2), including the production of fishmeal for human consumption or animal feed;
- the processing and preserving of fruit and vegetables (Group 10.3), including the production of fruit or vegetable juices as well as nuts;
- the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (Group 10.4), including the manufacture of crude and refined oils and fats from vegetable or animal materials, except rendering or refining of lard and other edible animal fats;
- the manufacture of dairy products(Group 10.5), including the operation of dairies and cheese making, the production of ice cream; the production of raw milk (for example, from cattle or sheep) is excluded as is the manufacture of non-dairy milk and cheese substitutes;
- the manufacture of grain mill products, starches and starch products (Group 10.6), including the milling of flour or meal from grains or vegetables, the milling, cleaning and polishing of rice, as well as the manufacture of flour mixes or doughs from these products;
- the manufacture of bakery and farinaceous products (Group 10.7), including the production of bread, fresh and preserved pastry goods and cakes, rusks and biscuits, macaroni, noodles, couscous and similar farinaceous products;
- the manufacture of other food products, including sugar, cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery, coffee, tea, spices, sauces and condiments, prepared meals and dishes (in other words, prepared, seasoned and cooked), perishable foods (such as sandwiches) and specialty food products such as infant formulae, baby foods, dietary foods for special medical purposes (Group 10.8);
- the manufacture of prepared feeds for farm animals or pets, including the concentrated animal feed and feed supplements (Group 10.9).
This division does not include the preparation of meals for immediate consumption, such as in restaurants. The production of animal feeds from slaughter waste or by-products is classified in food products manufacturing; however, processing food waste into secondary raw material is classified to waste collection, treatment and disposal activities and materials recovery (Division 38). The packaging of meat is excluded (as it forms part of office administrative, office support and other business support activities, Division 82) as is the processing and preserving of fish on vessels engaged in fishing (which forms part of fishing aquaculture, Division 03 — which is outside the activities covered by structural business statistics).
See also
- Manufacturing
- Other analyses of the business economy by NACE Rev. 2 sector
- Structural business statistics introduced
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- European business - facts and figures (online publication)
- Key figures on European Business – with a special feature section on SMEs – 2011 edition
Main tables
Database
- SBS - industry and construction (sbs_ind_co)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - industry and construction (sbs_na_ind)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics for industry (NACE Rev. 2 B-E) (sbs_na_ind_r2)
- SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics by size class - industry and construction (sbs_sc_ind)
- Industry by employment size class (NACE Rev. 2 B-E) (sbs_sc_ind_r2)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - industry and construction (sbs_na_ind)
- SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)
- SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev. 2 (from 2008 onwards) (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)
Dedicated section
Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)
Other information
- Decision 1578/2007/EC of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012
- Regulation 295/2008 of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics