Real sales in the German food industry fell by 1.4% in the first half of 2024, according to the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE).
This means that after the loss-making year of 2023, German food manufacturers recorded a further decline in the following half of the year.
While price-adjusted sales fell by 1.1% domestically, the decline abroad was even greater at 1.6%.
Domestic And Abroad
In nominal terms, the industry generated a total of €114.5 billion between January and June 2024, compared to €116.1 billion in the same period last year, a decline of 1.4%.
Domestic sales totalled €73.7 billion, a decline of 1.7% compared to the same period last year.
Abroad, sales fell by 0.8 percent to €40.7 billion.
Industry Warning
"The ongoing economic downturn in the food industry is alarming," warns Christoph Minhoff, General Manager of the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE).
"We must urgently take countermeasures before the innovative strength and competitiveness of our companies are seriously endangered."
While the food industry's sales prices fell slightly by 0.6% domestically, they rose slightly by 0.7 percent abroad.
The foreign share of sales is therefore 35.6%.
Animal Products
The producer price indices for agricultural products have fallen slightly compared to the same period last year and are 1.9% lower.
While prices for animal products fell by 4.7 percent compared to the same period last year, plant products became more expensive by 2.4%.
Prices for potatoes (plus 44.6%), vegetables (plus 28.8%) and eggs (plus 9.1%) rose particularly sharply.
In contrast, prices for grain (minus 22.5%), poultry (minus 9.7%) and milk (minus 6.6%) fell.
Compared to the pre-crisis level (beginning of 2020), the sub-index for plant products rose significantly more than the sub-index for animal products (just under 30%), with an increase of a good 40%, which underlines the continued high price level.
