THE FUTURE OF THE SECTOR. TOWARDS NEW BALANCES
The food and beverage sector is going through a unique period, which calls on companies in the sector to make important strategic reflections. Added to the persistent uncertainty about the evolution of the pandemic has been the impact of the abrupt return of inflation to levels not seen for more than a generation in all European countries, the United States, China and Japan. This factor has not only significantly affected the profitability of the sector, but is gradually causing broader macroeconomic changes whose impact is yet to come. Additionally, the war between Russia and Ukraine has multiplied the aforementioned uncertainty and created very serious collateral effects, such as the food crisis that the African continent is currently suffering.
To the aforementioned “macro” factors, we must add that we are facing a consumer who, after the pandemic, has reinforced his option for healthy and safe foods, hoping to access them at contained prices. In particular, the youngest consumers add to the previous preferences their inclination towards products supplied by companies governed from a business purpose that they consider authentic, based on the values that mobilize their generation: sustainability, sensitivity for well-being and development of their local communities, social diversity and transparency in their management and governance practices.
The primary sector level, the aforementioned new trends and government regulatory initiatives have recently manifested themselves in wide (and still open) public debates on issues such as animal protein production vs. plant-based proteins and on the relative merits of different models of primary production.
In short, 2022 and 2023 are years in which companies in the sector will act in a business ecosystem that seeks to find its new balance. New balances based on responding to the new macro realities, the imperatives of the new consumer and public opinion in general, and the new regulatory reality. And, as always happens in these cases, those who embrace these new realities by renewing their value propositions and their business models will be able to embrace the opportunities that they present to us. At the 25th Meeting of the Food and Beverage Sector, organized by IESE and Deloitte, we will focus on these issues and offer you insights into them from prominent players from each stage of the sector’s value chain.
As a final note, we want to point out that after two years we hope that we will finally be able to return to our traditional face-to-face format, recovering our traditional space for coexistence to exchange ideas that will help us reflect and get closer to the goal of being the protagonists of the future of the sector.
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