FoodDrinkEurope Promotes an EU Industrial Policy for Food and Drink

22 Jan 2014 --- FoodDrinkEurope, the trade body representing Europe’s food and drink industry, today launched its 2013-2014 Competitiveness Report, urging EU institutions to deliver an industrial policy tailored to increase the competitiveness of the food and drink sector.

Ahead of an anticipated Communication by the European Commission on Competitiveness, FoodDrinkEurope’s report, entitled ‘Promoting an EU Industrial Policy for Food and Drink’ aims to:

• Present the latest economic performance figures of the EU food and drink industry;
• Demonstrate clearly that the industry maintains the characteristics of a stable, non-cyclical and robust manufacturing sector;
• Highlight that the EU food and drink industry continues to generate the largest percentage of EU GDP, ahead of other important sectors such as engineering, automobile and chemicals;
• Show that the industry is striving to keep pace with international competition in terms of export market shares, private R&D investment and labour productivity.

With this report, Europe’s food and drink manufacturers stress the need for an EU industrial policy tailored to increase the sector’s innovation and export performances. The report also calls for the establishment of a permanent High Level Forum to enforce this policy.

Speaking following the publication of the Competitiveness Report, FoodDrinkEurope President, Jesús Serafín Pérez commented: “The 2013-2014 FoodDrinkEurope Competitiveness Report demonstrates the continued strong economic performance of Europe’s food and drink manufacturers and highlights the key priority for the industry – namely the development and implementation of an EU industrial policy for food and drink. I trust that this report will feed into upcoming discussions at the European Council focusing on competitiveness. We are confident that EU leaders will acknowledge the importance of achieving Europe’s industrial competitiveness through such sectorial initiatives”.