German manufacturers of food processing and packaging machinery achieved nominal export growth of 8.6 per cent in 2023. Global demand for machinery is high, and German manufacturers are not the only ones to benefit from this. Global trade in machinery is expected to rise to over 52 billion euros in 2023.
The German food machinery and packaging machinery industry is characterised by a Above-average export turnover of 86 per cent in foreign markets. „We are benefiting from the continuing high level of investment in automated, efficient and sustainable production and packaging technologies in the industrialised countries on the one hand, and from the growth momentum in the highly populated countries on the other,“ says Beatrix Fraese, economic expert at the VDMA Trade Association for Food Processing and Packaging Machinery. Last year, 53 per cent - and therefore more than half of exports - went to Delivered to countries outside Europe, with a focus on Asia and North America.
In many emerging economies, including the populous countries of India, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and Nigeria, for example, the food and beverage industries are the strongest industrial sectors (source: United Nations Industries Development Organisation UNIDO). Through Investments in hygienic processing and packaging technology these often resource-rich countries are increasing local value creation and self-sufficiency in safe, long-life food and beverages. They are increasingly moving away from exporting pure raw materials and instead exporting their own products in the region and in some cases worldwide.
„The potential is far from exhausted and will continue to ensure strong demand for machines.“
Beatrix Fraese
In many industrialised countries, above all in the USA, the The food and beverage industry is the largest industrial sector. In the United States, the sector employs almost 2 million people and generated a production value of over 1.1 trillion euros in 2023 (source: Euromonitor International). Against the backdrop of a shortage of qualified labour, there is a sustained investment in Automated, efficient and stable processes invested. This ensures that machine imports continue to reach new highs. German manufacturers have been the USA's most important trading partner in the food processing and packaging machinery segment for many years.
The strongest impetus in 2023 also came from the USA. German deliveries of food processing and packaging machinery to the United States increased by 19 per cent to 1.7 billion euros and thus to an all-time high. The USA has led the ranks of the top 10 sales markets for many years. France, China, the United Kingdom, Poland, Switzerland, Mexico, the Netherlands, India and Italy followed far behind in 2023. In regional terms, German manufacturers sold 33 per cent of exported machines in EU countries. A further 14 per cent went to other European countries, 19 per cent to North America, 17 per cent to Asia, 8 per cent to Central/South America, 4 per cent to Africa, 3 per cent to the Near/Middle East and 2 per cent to Australia/Oceania.
The global machinery trade - the sum of exports from around 50 industrialised countries - reflects the global demand for imported food processing and packaging machinery and has been growing dynamically for years. Within the In the last 10 years, global trade in machinery increased by 43 per cent from 33.9 billion euros in 2012 to 48.6 billion euros in 2022, of which the EU countries supplied a good 60 per cent. This makes the European food machinery and packaging machinery industry the most successful mechanical engineering segment in Europe with Germany and Italy in the lead.
According to the data available to date, the global trade in food processing and packaging machinery will rise to over 52 billion euros in 2023 despite difficult conditions, which corresponds to an increase of around 7 per cent. „We also see growth for our industry in 2024, as the global demand for safe and high-performance machines continues to be immense,“ explains Beatrix Fraese, pointing to the strongest growth rates in the food and packaging machinery sector. Investment drivers, namely hygiene and food safety, automation and efficiency improvements, resource conservation and sustainability in the production and packaging process.
Source: VDMA
