10/28/2008
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Communication and Press Department - Alimentaria Exhibitions
The Spanish machinery and technology sector for the food and beverage industry is made up of 220 companies and generates close to 6,500 direct jobs. It is characterised by being a very dynamic and flexible market which is capable of supplying all agri-food sectors and offering solutions for production.
The companies are distributed throughout Spain, but have a greater presence in Catalonia (44%), the Basque Country (6%), Madrid (15%) and Valencia (8%). Spanish manufacturers of machinery, equipment and similar products for the food and beverage industry are primarily SMEs with a distinguished exporting tradition and emphasis. 42% are small companies, 53% are medium-sized and 5% are large firms.
The business structure of technology and machinery for the food and beverage industry includes subsectors such as the meat industry, bread and baked goods, cakes and pastries, fruits and vegetables, chocolate, the dairy industry, dried fruits and nuts, coffee, fish, the preserves industry, olive oil, wine, industrial refrigeration, engineering, ingredients and additives.
According to data provided by the Multi-sector Business Association – AMEC in its Spanish acronym, turnover recorded for 2007 was 597 million euros. With 10% growth over the previous year, this figure maintained the upward trend of recent years.
The greatest weight in the sector is carried primarily by companies manufacturing machinery for the meat industry and for bread, baked goods, cakes and pastries. The former represent 41.58% of companies in the sector and the latter account for 21%. Aggregate turnover for the two subsectors totals 235 million euros, which is 39.3% of total turnover for the sector.
R&D&I
The main areas of innovation which the sector’s companies are working on are increasing productivity, traceability, food and beverage safety, hygiene design, occupational hazard prevention, versatility and packaging.
The impetus for this growth has been the combination of good domestic demand with a recovery in foreign markets. However, Spanish companies’ ability to respond has been the result of a recovery in R&D&I investment, which has begun to focus on energy consumption, food and beverage systems and packaging features, among other things, and not just on production rates, which had previously received the majority of investment. The trend looks set to continue in the short and medium term, moving away from isolated R&D investments to larger long-term projects.
Alimentaria Exhibitions
Communication and Press Department
+34 93 452 11 04
prensa@alimentaria.com