Investment in the food manufacturing industry was active in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 19.0%

Top news reporters: Bai Liuyang, Li Zhiyuan, intern, Zhang Jiankai

On May 16, the 21st China (Luohe) Food Expo opened at the Luohe International Convention and Exhibition Center. At the scene, Ma Yong, vice president and secretary general of the China Food Industry Association, released the economic operation of China's food industry in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.

Top news reporters learned at the scene that in the first quarter of 2024, investment in the food industry will maintain double-digit rapid growth, and investment in fixed assets in the food industry will accelerate significantly. Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in the first quarter, the country's investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) increased by 4.5% year-on-year, and manufacturing investment increased by 9.9%. In terms of food industry sub-industries, the investment in agricultural and sideline food processing industry, food manufacturing industry, wine and beverage and refined tea manufacturing industry increased by 17.4%, 19.0% and 28.3% year-on-year respectively, all maintaining double-digit growth, and the growth rate was significantly higher than the average growth level of 9.9% in the manufacturing industry and the industry level last year.

In 2023, the national food consumer price will run at a low level, and production will grow moderately

Ma Yong introduced that in 2023, the food industry (including agricultural and sideline food processing industry, food manufacturing industry, wine and beverage and refined tea manufacturing industry) accounted for 4.8% of the country's industrial assets, created 6.7% of operating income, and completed 8.0% of the total profit. Judging from the growth rate of major economic indicators, it has declined from the previous year. The high-speed and large-scale growth of the food industry has changed, from the accumulation of quantity to the optimization of quality.

From the perspective of production, in 2023, the added value of the national food industry above designated size will increase by 1.2% year-on-year, and the added value will account for 5.9% of the national industrial added value.

From the price point of view, the national food consumer price will run at a low level in 2023. Food prices peaked in June and then fell and followed in negative growth for the following months, mainly due to pork prices.

From the perspective of economic benefits, the growth rate of economic benefits of the food industry will slow down in 2023. The total profit of 40,000 food enterprises above designated size was 616.80 billion yuan, an increase of 2.3% over 2022, and the growth rate slowed down by 7.3 percentage points compared with 2022. The operating income of food industry enterprises above designated size was 9.0 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%, and the growth rate slowed down by 3.1 percentage points compared with the previous year.

Among them, the year-on-year growth rate of operating income in agricultural and sideline food processing industry, food manufacturing industry, wine, beverage and refined tea manufacturing industry was 1.1%, 2.5% and 7.4% respectively; The year-on-year growth rates of profits in the three industries were -11%, 4.2% and 8.5% respectively, all of which decreased from the previous year.

There are still many blockages in the development of the food industry

The food industry is currently at risk of "stagflation". Consumption growth has stagnated, and raw material prices have risen. Ma Yong introduced that from the perspective of the enterprise supply chain, the purchase price of food raw materials and packaging materials will rise too high and too fast in 2023, and the transportation and logistics costs will also increase significantly. However, in order to maintain stable supply and cope with market competition, the room for raising food sales prices is extremely limited, and corporate profits have declined and losses have expanded.

In terms of financial investment, the food industry is a traditional industry and an important livelihood industry, but there are generally problems of financing difficulties and high financing costs for small and medium-sized food enterprises, so it is urgent to increase the efforts to guide and attract social capital to invest in the food industry, encourage innovative financial service models for the food industry, and improve the enthusiasm of social capital to enter the food industry.

In the past two years, all localities have taken the agricultural and food industry as the main starting point for the revitalization of rural industries, but many places have not conducted in-depth research on local resource endowment, location conditions, industrial adaptability and market, blindly and forcefully grasping investment promotion, and the homogeneity of industries, enterprises and products is prominent.

From the perspective of the supply side, the contradictions in the structural reform of the food industry are still prominent, and the industrial pattern is still small, weak and scattered on the whole. The main manifestations are: first, homogeneous overcapacity, and the repeated construction of industrial parks is prominent; Second, the degree of intensive processing is not high, the industrial chain is short, and the effective supply of high-quality food lags behind the market demand; Third, the independent innovation of high-end ingredients and high-end equipment is insufficient, and the key high-end equipment and safety rapid inspection equipment of the food industry still rely on imports; Fourth, the integration of the industrial chain is not deep, and a large number of food industries stay in the state of "simple manufacturing"; Fifth, the standard system is not perfect, and there is a partial lag between the current food standard system and the status quo of product innovation and development, and the coordination of standards is poor.

In terms of distribution channels, the sharp decline in sales of traditional channels and new channels and new business formats have brought new challenges to the development of food enterprises, such as the declining sales volume of supermarket channels, the increase in the cost of online e-commerce traffic, and the widespread use of price leverage as the main means of promotion in emerging formats, which have brought new challenges to the sales of food enterprises.

In the first quarter of 2024, the production of the food industry continued to improve

Ma Yong introduced that the production of the food industry in the first quarter of 2024 will maintain a positive trend.

In the first quarter, the industrial added value of the food industry above designated size increased by 5.3% year-on-year, 4.1 percentage points faster than that in 2023. The growth of food manufacturing, wine and beverage and refined tea manufacturing was higher than the average level of industries above designated size, and the industrial added value increased by 6.4% and 6.5% year-on-year respectively.

Among the 24 products involved in the food industry, the output of 16 products maintained positive growth, accounting for 66.7%, an increase of 8.4 percentage points over the whole year of 2023. Food prices remain low. In the first quarter, consumer prices were flat year-on-year, of which food prices fell by 3.2% year-on-year.

Revenue growth needs to be improved, and profit growth continues to pick up. In the first quarter, with the gradual implementation of the policy of expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption, consumer demand continued to be released, and the economic benefits of the food industry achieved rapid growth. 42,000 food industry enterprises above designated size achieved operating income of 2,162.37 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%, and the revenue growth of the food industry still needs to be improved. Among them, the operating income of food manufacturing, wine and beverage and refined tea manufacturing increased by 8.0% and 6.8% year-on-year respectively, and the revenue of agricultural and sideline food processing industry decreased by 3.7% year-on-year. The total profit of the food industry was 153.62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.9%, 1.1 percentage points faster than that from January to February, and also significantly higher than 9.6 percentage points last year.

Among them, the total profits of agricultural and sideline food processing industry, food manufacturing industry, wine and beverage manufacturing industry and refined tea manufacturing industry increased by 2.0%, 18.8% and 11.1% year-on-year respectively, all of which achieved positive growth.

Investment in the food industry maintained double-digit growth. Since the beginning of this year, the investment in fixed assets in the food industry has accelerated significantly. Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in the first quarter, the country's investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) increased by 4.5% year-on-year, and manufacturing investment increased by 9.9%. In terms of food industry sub-industries, the investment in agricultural and sideline food processing industry, food manufacturing industry, wine and beverage and refined tea manufacturing industry increased by 17.4%, 19.0% and 28.3% year-on-year respectively, all maintaining double-digit growth, and the growth rate was significantly higher than the average growth level of 9.9% in the manufacturing industry and the industry level last year.