(Brussels, 19 April 2010)  The Confederation of food and drink industries of the EU today released its annual facts and figures brochure for 2009 - “Data & trends for the European Food and Drink Industry”.

Among the most notable findings are:

o        The EU is the largest exporter and importer in food and drink products worldwide, with a trade surplus of €1.1 billion in 2008;

o        The European food and drink industry is the EU’s single largest manufacturing sector in turnover and employment terms (ahead of automobile, chemicals and machinery) and is number two in the EU in terms of value added and number of companies;

o        At the same time, the food and drink industry remains one of Europe’s most diverse, with over 310,000 companies, of which 99.1% are SMEs (defined as having less than 250 employees). These smaller companies generate almost half of industry turnover (48.7%), whilst directly employing 63% of the sector’s workforce.  Conversely, large companies provide over 51% of the turnover and contribute to 37% of the sector’s employment.  

The brochure contains key statistics and figures, providing an overview of the entire sector for the period 2007-2008, and is divided into three sections: ‘Structure of the Industry’, ‘Markets and Consumption’ and ‘World Trends’. It also contains key data on R&D and innovation developments, as well as a ranking of leading international food companies, taken from Eurostat, OECD and the World Bank as well as CIAA member databases.

For further information please contact:

Lisa McCooey, Director, Communications (CIAA), Tel.: +32. 476. 911. 300 l.mccooey@ciaa.eu

In 2008, the total revenue of Europe’s food and drink industry was €965 billion and total direct employment was 4.4 million.