Archive:Food, beverages and tobacco statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1
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- Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article introduces a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the economic activities in the food, beverages and tobacco sector in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev 1.1), this sector covers NACE Divisions 15 and 16, and its activities are treated in more depth in seven specific articles, divided by product:
- Meat;
- Fish;
- Dairy products;
- Bread, sugar, confectionery and other food products;
- Miscellaneous food products;
- Beverages;
- Tobacco.
_Structural_profile,_EU-27,_2006.PNG)
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_Expenditure,_productivity_and_profitability,_EU-27,_2006.PNG)
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It should be noted that this article does not cover the agricultural activities of growing, farming, rearing and hunting and also fishing (NACE Divisions 1 and 5). A number of products, such as wine, olive oil, eggs or cheese are also sold directly by agricultural holdings. As such, their weight is likely to be under-reported in this article, as part of their production is recorded as an agricultural activity.
Main statistical findings
Structural profile
The EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco (NACE Subsection DA) manufacturing sector comprised 308.6 thousand enterprises in 2006 and employed 4.7 million persons (the equivalent of 3.6 % of the non-financial business economy (NACE Sections C to I and K) workforce). This sector generated EUR 197 billion of value added in 2006, which was equivalent to 3.5 % of the value added generated across the non-financial business economy. The largest activity (at the NACE group level of detail) within the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector was the manufacture of bread, sugar, confectionary and other food products (NACE Group 15.8); it contributed almost EUR 72.0 billion of value added (36.6 % of sectoral value added) and employed 2.1 million persons (43.8 % of sectoral employment).
The second and third largest subsectors, in terms of employment, were meat processing (NACE Group 15.1) and beverages manufacturing (NACE Group 15.9), together employing a combined 1.5 million persons in 2006 and individually accounting for 21.3 % and 9.8 % of sectoral employment, as well as a third of sectoral value added (15.3 % and 17.3 % respectively).
The remaining third of sectoral value added and quarter of sectoral employment was shared among the remaining food and tobacco subsectors, of which the manufacture of dairy products (NACE Group 15.5) was the next largest (accounting for 8.9 % of sectoral value added in 2005 and 8.5 % of sectoral employment in 2006).
Around one half (49.4 %) of the value added generated by the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector within the EU-27 in 2006 came from just three Member States; these were Germany (17.7 %), the United Kingdom (16.5 %) and France (15.2 %). In each of these countries, the contribution made by this sector to total value added within the non-financial business economy was broadly in line with the EU-27 average of 3.5 %. Among the remaining Member States for which information is available [1], relative specialisation was highest in Poland (2005) and Ireland, where these activities accounted for 9.2 % and 7.0 % respectively of total value added within the non-financial business economy.
In terms of employment, the two most specialised regions (at the NUTS 2 level of detail shown in the map) for food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing were Bretagne (France) and Podlaskie (Poland). In both of these, about one in nine persons employed in the non-financial business economy was working in the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector. The figures for both of these regions were synonymous with wider trends, as several regions in France and Poland reported a relatively high degree of employment specialisation for these activities.
There was a slow and relatively steady increase in the level of output of food, beverages and tobacco across the EU-27 during the ten years through to 2007. The production index rose by an average of 1.4 % per year, which was less than the average for total industry (2.3 % per year). The uniform nature of the evolution of output reflects a relatively constant level of demand across the EU for food and beverages, whereby many products are protected from broader economic cycles as people continue to eat more or less the same amount of food during periods of rapid expansion or recession.
With the exception of 1998, there was a relatively steady decline in the level of employment within the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector between 1997 and 2007. The average rate of decline (0.6 % per year) was about half that noted across the whole of the industrial economy.
In the ten years up until 2007, there were production increases in the EU-27 for eight of the ten NACE groups that make up the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector. The principal exception was the output of tobacco manufacturing (NACE Division 16) where production decreased, on average, by 3.4 % per year, in part reflecting health concerns and associated Community legislation. The other decline was for vegetable and animal oils and fats manufacturing (-0.3 % per year). In contrast, the strongest rates of increase were recorded for the processing and preserving of fruit and vegetables subsector (NACE Group 15.3), where production expanded by 2.2 % per year, and for the processing and preserving of fish and fish products (NACE Group 15.2), despite a relatively sharp fall in output in 2007 (-4.9 %).
Small and medium-sized enterprises ( SMEs) generated a relatively low proportion of EU-27 value added (45.5 %) within the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector in 2006 when compared with the non-financial business economy as a whole (57.9 %). Much of this difference concerned the relative contributions of micro-enterprises (those employing less than ten persons); they contributed just over a fifth (21.0 % in 2005) of total value added within the non-financial business economy, but only 8.2 % of the added value within the food, beverages and tobacco sector. It is possible that the relative weight of micro-enterprises is understated, as some small agricultural holdings choose to process and sell their own-production directly (and it is therefore likely that their output is not included within the statistics for Division 15).
There was less difference in terms of employment structures, as SMEs within the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector in 2006 accounted for 62.5 % of the workforce, compared with an average of 67.4 % for the non-financial business economy. When combining these relative shares (for value added and employment), the resulting apparent labour productivity ratio for SMEs in the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco sector stood at EUR 30 500 of value added per person employed, significantly lower than the average for SMEs in the whole of the non-financial business economy (EUR 37.8 thousand per person employed).
Among the Member States for which size-class data are available, it was only in Slovakia that the contribution of SMEs (57.5 % of value added in 2005) to the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector far exceeded the corresponding contribution of SMEs to the total non financial business economy (44.5 % in 2005). The relative importance of SMEs in terms of their contribution to sectoral value added was particularly low in the United Kingdom (22.7 % in 2006), which was less than half the average (50.7 %) for the total non-financial business economy.
Employment characteristic
The food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector is atypical in terms of the number of women who are employed in this activity. The female share of the EU-27 workforce was 42.4 % in 2007, which was well above the non-financial business economy average of 35.1 %. This characteristic was apparent for the majority of the Member States in 2007, the exceptions being Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom [2]. Indeed, women represented at least 50 % of the workforce in the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector in Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Latvia, and almost two thirds (63.9 %) of the total workforce in Estonia.
While there is often a link between female and part-time employment rates, the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector reported a relatively low proportion of persons employed on a part-time basis in 2007 (11.2 % of the workforce compared with 14.3 % for the EU-27’s non-financial business economy). This distinction was most apparent in the United Kingdom (12.1 % compared with 21.4 %), but was also notable in Ireland and the Netherlands. Indeed, it was only in Latvia, Germany and Hungary that the proportion of part-time workers in the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector was at the same level or above the average of the non-financial business economy.
The age profile of those working in the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector was very similar to that across the broader non-financial business economy in 2007; a little under one quarter (23.9 %) of all persons employed in this sector were under the age of 30, while more than one fifth (21.1 %) were aged over 50, leaving the majority (55.1 %) aged between 30 and 49. In Sweden and Finland, the proportion of younger workers (under the age of 30) in the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector was notably higher than the averages recorded for each of their respective non-financial business economies in 2007 (by 5 to 6 percentage points). In contrast, the share of younger workers was relatively low in each of the Baltic Member States (by about 6 to 7 percentage points) when compared with non-financial business economy averages.
Expenditure, productivity and profitability
The share of total operating expenditure accounted for by personnel costs within the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco sector was 13.8 % in 2006, which was a little less than the averages for total industry (16.4 %) or the non-financial business economy (16.1 %). At a more detailed level, there were some notable differences; the relative share of personnel costs at the NACE group level [3] ranged from a low of 5.3 % for the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats to a high of 20.7 % for the manufacture of bread, sugar, confectionary and other food products.
Tangible investment within the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco sector accounted for 3.4 % of the total within the non-financial business economy in 2006, which was a similar share to that recorded for food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing in terms of value added (3.5 % of the non-financial business economy total). The relative importance of tangible investment within these activities was highest in Cyprus (7.7 % of the non-financial business economy total in 2005) and in Poland (7.2 % in 2005).
The investment rate, which corresponds to the ratio of tangible investment compared with value added, was 17.9 % in 2006 for the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector. This was a similar rate to that recorded for the whole of the non-financial business economy (18.4 %). The investment rate of the manufacture of beverages (NACE Group15.9), the manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats (NACE Group15.4), as well as the manufacture of grain mill products, starches and starch products (NACE Group15.6) stood, in each case, at just under 25 %. Among the Member States, the highest investment rates for the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector were recorded in the two Member States that joined the EU in 2007; namely, Romania (76.7 %) and Bulgaria (67.3 %). In contrast, the lowest investment rate was registered in Ireland (7.3 %).
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector was EUR 41.8 thousand per person employed in 2006, a similar level to the average for the non-financial business economy. However, average personnel costs (EUR 26.0 thousand per employee in 2005) were about 10 % below the non-financial business economy average. As a result, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio (163.0 %) of the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco sector in 2006 was higher than the average for the whole of the non-financial business economy (146.5 %). At a more detailed level, the highest wage adjusted labour productivity ratios were recorded for tobacco manufacturing (364.5 % in 2004) and for beverages manufacturing (203.3 %), while the lowest ratio was registered for the production, processing and preserving of meat and meat products (134.1 % in 2005). Among the Member States, the highest wage adjusted productivity ratios for the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector were recorded in Poland (361.7 % in 2005) and Ireland (332.5 %).
As an indicator of profitability, the gross operating rate of the EU-27’s food, beverages and tobacco sector in the EU-27 was 9.0 % in 2006, below the average recorded for the whole of the non-financial business economy (10.8 %). This characteristic was repeated in almost all of the Member States (the main exceptions being Romania and Luxembourg). Among those countries for which data are available [4], the gross operating rate of the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector was highest in Poland (21.8 % in 2005) and Ireland (18.4 %), and lowest in France, Slovakia and Slovenia (all between 6 % and 7 %). Gross operating rates (for the EU-27) were particularly low for the manufacture of vegetable and animal fats and oils (4.6 %), as well as for the production, processing and preserving of meat and meat products (4.9 % in 2005); while they were highest for the manufacture of beverages (13.3 %).
External trade
The EU-27 Member States had a combined trade surplus of EUR 5.7 billion for food products, beverages and tobacco (CPA Subsection DA) in 2007, exporting goods that were valued at EUR 238.9 billion and importing goods to the value of EUR 233.2 billion. Almost three quarters of the trade (76.2 % based on export values) conducted in these goods in 2007 was carried out within the EU-27 (intra-EU-27 trade), a much higher proportion than the average for all industrial products (67.6 % for CPA Sections C to E).
Nevertheless, the lion’s share (EUR 4.1 billion) of the EU-27’s trade surplus for food, beverages and tobacco products came from trade with the rest of the world (extra-EU-27 trade). The positive trade situation resulted from EU-27 exports of EUR 56.9 billion (a 4.9 % share of all industrial exports) and imports of food products, beverages and tobacco to the value of EUR 52.8 billion (4.0 %). The trade surplus narrowed significantly in 2007 (falling by 27.4 %), perhaps reflecting a steep increase in the price of many raw and/or semi-processed food items.
At a more detailed level (CPA groups), the largest EU-27 trade surplus (EUR 12.8 billion) was recorded for beverages (CPA Group 15.9). Indeed, the surplus for beverages was more than the combined surpluses of the next two largest contributors – bread, sugar, confectionary and other food products (CPA Group 15.8) and dairy products (CPA Group 15.5). In contrast, there was a considerable trade deficit in the EU-27 for fish and fish products (CPA Group 15.2), valued at EUR 11.7 billion.
The value of EU-27 exports and imports of food, beverages and tobacco products grew strongly in 2007 (up by 5.0 % and 8.8 % respectively on 2006), maintaining the growth in the trade of these products with non-EU countries that has been in evidence since 2003. During the five-year period through until 2007, the main structural change in exports concerned the increase in the relative importance of beverages, whose share of total exports rose by almost two percentage points to 31.5 % in 2007 (mainly at the expense of meat and meat products and tobacco). As regards imports, the main change between 2002 and 2007 was the growth in the relative importance of vegetable and animal oils and fats (up 2.6 percentage points), which was mainly at the expense of fish and fish products and prepared animal feed.
As a proportion of total industrial exports, food, beverage and tobacco products were particularly important for Denmark (accounting for 17.6 % in 2007) and Greece (14.7 %). In terms of imports, these products were also important in Denmark (10.4 %) and Malta (10.3 %).
The United States, Russia, Japan and Switzerland were key export markets for EU-27 food, beverage and tobacco products in 2007, although the relative share of exports to the United States declined from 21.2 % in 2006 to 19.6 % in 2007. Russia accounted for 9.7 % of all EU-27 exports of food, beverage and tobacco products, which was higher than the Russian share of all EU-27 industrial exports (7.2 %). The share of imports of food, beverages and tobacco products into the EU-27 from Brazil and Argentina continued to grow, accounting for a little over one fifth (20.6 %) of the total in 2007.
Data sources and availability
The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.
Other data sources include short-term statistics (STS), the Labour force survey (LFS), the COMEXT database for external trade, and the Confederation of Food and Drink Industries (CIAA).
Context
The food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector in the EU is comprised of a relatively small number of enterprises that have a considerable global market presence, which operate alongside a high number of relatively small enterprises that serve more local, regional and national markets.
As these enterprises not only produce goods for final consumption but also intermediate products for other manufacturing activities, they are affected by a broad scope of legislation. The main legislative areas affecting the EU’s food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector, however, tend to involve international trade agreements, or food and feed legislation. As a majority of the EU’s agricultural production is processed by the food, beverages and tobacco manufacturing sector, developments in Common Agricultural Policy and associated Common Market Organisations can have important implications for costs and processes in the food chain. Regarding food legislation, the European Parliament and the Council proposed an update of the laws regarding the provision of information to consumers (COM(2008) 40 final) in 2008, in order to clarify and consolidate existing regulations. In part, this proposal was built on a 2007 White Paper covering a Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity (COM(2007) 279 final), which stressed the need for consumers to have access to clear, consistent and evidence-based nutritional information.
Further Eurostat information
Publications
Main tables
Database
Dedicated section
Other information
- COM(2007) 279 final - A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues
- COM(2008) 40 final - Proposal for a Regulation on the provision of food information to consumers