These statistics have been compiled from the latest industry data on food and
drink manufacturing and the most recent Office of National Statistics Annual
Business Survey.
- The food and drink manufacturing industry is the single largest manufacturing
sector in the UK, with a turnover of £95.4bn and Gross Value Added (GVA) of
£25.7bn
[1], accounting for 18.3% of the total manufacturing sector by turnover. - The food and non-alcoholic drink sectors represented by FDF turnover £81.8bn and
generate GVA of £21.5bn, accounting for 15.7% of the total manufacturing sector
by
turnover. - The industry employs more than 400,000 workers. This represents nearly 17% of
the
overall manufacturing workforce in the UK [2]. - Our sector is an important trading partner with Europe: exporting almost £19.5bn
of food and drink products a year, with just over £12.8bn made up of food and
non-alcoholic drink exports, 75% of which goes to the EU. - The industry is a key partner for British farmers: buying two thirds of all the
UK’s agricultural produce. All this economic activity is carried out by 6,705
food and soft drink enterprises (7,835 including alcohol) – many of
which are small companies employing
less
than 10 people. - Our sector invests £425m in to R&D;[3] which translated to over 16,000 new
products in 2013[4] - Our industry has increased the productivity of its labour force over the last 10
years by 12% [5] leaving food and drink workers in the UK nearly 50% more
productive than the EU average [6].
Food and drink manufacturing has become a safe and rewarding environment to
work
in:
- Businesses in our sector have reduced their rate of injuries by over 50% over
the last 20 years, one of the biggest reductions of any business sector in the
UK[7]. - An FDF survey conducted in 2010 indicated that the average tenure for employees
was just under 9 years [8] and more recent data shows that average
earnings
remain higher than the national average [9].
Notes:
- Information taken from latest ONS Annual Business Survey (provisional 2013).
- From ONS Annual Business Survey (provisional 2013)
- Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD)
- Innova Market Insights 2014
- Defra Food Pocket Book 2013 (Total Factor Productivity)
- From Eurostat SBS statistics (GVA per employee)
- HSE accident and injury statistics
- Survey conducted for IfM Value of Food & Drink Manufacturing to the UK
- From the ONS Average Weekly Earnings data (September 2013)
Last reviewed: 11 Dec 2014