29
NOV 2017 FOOD FOCUSTHAILAND
SEE THROUGH
MARKET
land. The average farm size is around 59.6hectares.
The food-basedeconomy includes theabovementionedsectors
and agricultural wholesale trade, food-based crafts, food industry,
foodwholesaleand retail aswell as theHoReCa-sector.
The food-based economy encompasses 705,000 companies,
employs 5.3million people and generates a turnover of 808 billion
Euro.
Food Industry
Germany’s food industry is the biggest in Europe and the third
biggest industrybranchwithin thecountry: In2016,5,860companies
employed about 581,000 people and generated 172 billion Euro
turnover.
Themost important food industrycategories inGermanyaremeat
andmeat productswitha23.5percent shareof thedomesticbranch
turnover, followed by milk and dairy products, bakery products,
confectionery & long life bakery products and alcoholic beverages
with 13.9 percent, 9.6 percent, 8.5 percent and 7.6 percent
respectively.
Food and Beverages “made in Germany“ are sought after
worldwide due to renowned quality, competitive pricing, reliability of
supply and extensiveproduct range.
Thus it isnosurprise that theexport of theGerman food industry
has almost doubled from 17 percent of the total turnover in 1998 to
33percentand theexportvalueevenmore thandoubled - it increased
by 172percent.
Theexportofprocessed foodanddrinks (henceforth: foodexport)
is now 56.6 billion Euro, overall 3.3 percent more than in 2015 and
7.5 percent more into Non-European Union markets. Germany is
now the third biggest food and drink-exporting nation in the world
withmore than a 6percent shareof theglobal export value.
AlthoughGermany is now exporting about 78.1 percent of food
anddrinks into theEuropeanUnion,Asia isby far themost important
Extra-European Union export market for theGerman food industry
witha7.8percentexport shareor4.3billionEuroexportvalue.China
aloneaccounts for1.7billionEuroofGerman foodanddrinkexports,
more than to theUnitedStates ofAmerica.
Themost importantexportbranchesof theGerman food industry
are now themeat industry (with an 18.8 percent export share), the
dairy industry (15.1percent) and theconfectionery& long lifebakery
industrywith 14.5 percent.
ThebiggestcompaniesofGermanorigin include “Tönnies” (meat),
“Dr.Oetker” (Convenience food) and “DMK” (Dairy products).
However, 95 percent of theGerman food and drink companies
are small andmedium sized. Some of them are looking back on a
historyof hundredsof years, combiningagrown family traditionwith
specialised know-how and state-of-the-art technology, thusmaking
them internationally very competitive.
