In 2015, the international demand for food processing and packaging machinery rose by six per cent to reach a value of 38 billion euros. Within ten years, machinery sales thus rose by 52 per cent. Not many segments of the international mechanical engineering industry can claim a similarly dynamic development.
The demand for machinery and equipment for the production, filling and packaging of beverages remains high, reaching a new record in 2015. And the global consumption of beverages is still growing dynamically.
The machinery industry awaits drinktec, the leading trade show for the beverage and liquid food industry, which will take place in Munich between September 11 and 15, 2017.
The Frankfurt am Main-based German Engineering Federation (VDMA), which represents the largest group of exhibitors at the show and supports its organiser, Messe Munchen, as a conceptional partner in all market-relevant issues, estimated that approximately one-third of the world trade was sold to the beverage and liquid food industry.
One also has to take into account equipment and components from other statistical areas that are classified under different headers, such as stretch blow moulding machinery for PET bottles, heat exchangers, pumps, logistics solutions and automation components.
The total investment of the beverage and liquid food industry is, therefore, likely to be much higher, since the total demand also includes machinery obtained in the respective local market.
Germany remains foremost supplier country
With an average export rate of 87 per cent and a 21 per cent share in the world trade volume, German food processing and packaging engineering companies are internationally leading.
In some sub-sectors, particularly in the fields related to drinktec, the German manufacturers’ international export shares are much higher: They provide, for example, 50 per cent of the world’s exported brewing machinery and 30 per cent of the packaging machinery.
After Germany, Italy is main supplier of food processing and packaging
machinery and equipment. This is followed at some distance by the United States, China, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France and Japan with shares ranging between eight and three per cent of the international foreign trade.
International trade by regions
In 2015, 40 per cent of the global exports of food processing and packaging machinery was sold in the European countries. Thirty-one per cent of this amount was delivered to the European Union (EU). The second most important sales region was Asia with a share of 22 per cent. This was followed by North America with 13 per cent, Latin America with 10 per cent, Africa with eight per cent and the Middle East with five per cent.
The list of top ten markets was headed - as in most previous years - by the United States. It was followed by China, Germany, France, Britain, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Poland and Indonesia. But Brazil, Iran, South Africa, Nigeria, India and Thailand, among others, demonstrated an increasingly stronger demand impetus in 2015. All in all, equipment for manufacturing and packaging food and beverages is sold in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The level of investment in the highly industrialized countries is considerable, the dynamic demand impulses, however, arise from the non-European markets. As a general tendency, it can be seen that in recent years, the importance of the individual sales regions has shifted in favour of Asia and Latin America. VDMA expects this shift to progress gradually as the importance of individual markets in Asia, Latin America and even in Africa will continue to increase in the future.
Positive outlook through rising global consumption
VDMA sees the prospects for suppliers to the beverage and food industry positively. The world’s population is growing, the expenses on food and beverages are rising, and especially in emerging economies, there is a pent-up consumption demand.
This assumption is confirmed by data by the British market research institute Euromonitor International. For the soft drink category, Euromonitor predicted an increase of 18 per cent in global sales by 2020.
Asia is the largest market for soft drinks, and a further increase of 29 per cent is expected. A growth rate of 14 per cent for Latin America is predicted and in the Middle East/Africa, the consumption, starting from a much lower level, is estimated to rise by 44 per cent. By 2020, the global sales volume is estimated to reach 790 billion litres.
The global trade volume of alcoholic beverages is also forecast to grow by nine per cent and will amount to 270 billion litres in the year 2020. The highest growth rates are expected in Latin America with 15 per cent and Asia with 11 per cent.
The rising consumption will trigger investments in the expansion or modernisation of production capacity. In most countries where the beverage production is still growing dynamically, the technology demand cannot be met by local suppliers and the machinery and equipment must be procured on the international market. In the developed markets of Western Europe and North America, volume sales will grow at a significantly slower rate or will partly stagnate due to the high levels of beverage consumption. At the same time, the expenditure on drinks here will still rise according to forecasts of Euromonitor International. This means a quality enhancement will determine these markets. Health trends, the desire for new tastes and the wish for a variety of pack sizes and shapes influence consumer behaviour significantly. Seasonal products gain in importance, so do specialties. The product life cycles are getting shorter. The beverage industry must respond to this development. Where investments in developed markets are concerned, the focus is on solutions to increase the flexibility and the economic and overall system efficiency.
At drinktec 2017, the machinery manufacturers will present their solutions for the many challenges of the beverage and liquid food industry, for every company size and every performance group.
Drinktec is the world’s largest platform with the highest density of experts and the place to be for everyone who is involved in the beverage or liquid food business. In alignment with the global development of the beverage and liquid food industries, the exhibiting industry expects an even higher internationality and a further increase in the number of visitors in particular from the fast-growing markets such as China, Brazil, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Iran.
