F&B excluded from European Commission’s competitiveness strategy

In the 328-page report, food is mentioned seven times and only as part of a wider section on Europe’s largest polluting manufacturing industries.

The report aims to counter Europe’s worry over “slowing growth since the start of the century” and acknowledges multiple strategies since 2000 had been raised to kickstart significant growth, but came to nothing.

“A wide gap in GDP has opened up between the EU and US, driven mainly by a more pronounced slowdown in productivity growth in Europe,” said the report.

“Europe’s households have paid the price in foregone living standards. On per capita basis, real disposable income has grown almost twice as much as in the US as in the EU since 2000.”

The three main areas of European growthThree main areas for growth are targeted by the report, including closing the innovation gap between the US and China, focus on advanced technologies.

A second area targeted for capital growth is a joint European Union-wide plan for decarbonisation and competitiveness.

In a third area, the report highlights a need to increase security and reduce dependencies, specifically around critical raw materials and considering geopolitical instability.

Standing in the way of progress was a lack of Europe-wide focus, common resources wastage and poor coordination between member states.

However, despite food and beverage leading the way in areas such as ag-tech, AI use along with being the largest employer in the EU, opportunities to grow the sector were not outlined.

“While the report proposes many valid recipes for success, it has in short-sight left out the main ingredient – Europe’s largest manufacturing industry, the food and drink sector,” said a FoodDrinkEurope spokesperson.

“If Europe’s largest manufacturing industry is only mentioned in passing as part of a wider chapter on energy-intensive industries, how reflective is this report of Europe’s industrial reality?

The outsized role of European food and drink“We hope the outsized role of the food and drink industry will be considered in future work relating to European industrial competitiveness, especially as it pertains to feeding society, food security, and driving sustainable growth.”

FoodNavigator approached the European Commission for comment and is awaiting a response.

This follows a UK report that claimed food and drink manufacturers there were reluctant to invest in and explore digitalisation and AI as a result of squeezed margins​.

Meanwhile, the EC’s plan to implement the European Union Deforestation Regulation came under fresh scrutiny as industry leaders again called for a delay and phased rollout​.

Critics levelled-up warnings of disaster should the EC continue to go ahead with EUDR, citing a lack of preparedness, a poor understanding and clarity of expectations and underwhelming communication between policy makers and industry.