The global food and drinks market was worth $3,498bn in 2007, up 3.1% over 2006. The global food and drinks market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% during 2007–10 to reach $3,843bn in 2010. Increasing demand for healthy products coupled with rising disposable incomes in emerging economies is fueling demand for food and drink products. However, the rising price of raw materials such as animal feed, energy, and other commodities such as aluminium used in packaging, will increase the operating costs of players.

‘The Top 10 Food and Drinks Companies: Emerging opportunities, growth strategies and innovation in the leading players’ is a new report published by Business Insights that analyzes the innovation and growth strategies of the top 10 players in the food and drinks industry. This report identifies the product areas that the top 10 players are seeking to develop. It also examines the comparative strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the world’s leading food and drinks companies.

Key Findings...

Rising consumption of food and drinks in emerging countries, elevated fuel prices, and climate change have contributed to the rise in raw material prices, which will adversely impact the operating margins of food and drinks companies.

The food and drinks industry is highly fragmented - the top 10 companies account for 12.9% of the global market share, based on 2007 sales.

Consolidation in the food and drinks industry will change its competitive landscape as JBS expected to appear in the top 10 players list in the industry.

Nestlé is the global leader with 2.6% market share in 2007, followed by Cargill with 2.5%.

Use this report to...

• Gain insight into the world’s leading food and drinks companies with this report’s ranking of the top 10 companies, detailing their financial performance and future prospects.
• Identify and target future growth areas from this report’s analysis of acquisitions and divestments made by leading food and drinks companies and their strategies for growth.
• Understand the key trends in the food and drinks market and the impact that they are expected to have on the top 10 players.
• Enhance your product development strategies by examing the leading food and drinks companies’ innovation and NPD strategies and recent product launches.
• Create more effective competitive strategies based on this report’s SWOT analyses of the top food and drinks companies.

Key issues...

Food safety. Rising concerns over the safety of Chinese food products has led its government to draft a five year food safety plan to place new controls on food and drug imports and exports.

Price fixing. Rising raw-material prices and emergence of huge agricultural conglomerates have pushed players to collude and form cartels to co-ordinate pricing for mutual benefit at the expense of buyers.

Growth in Asia Pacific markets. A rising middle class population and an improving macroeconomic environment in the Asian economies of India and China has increased consumption of food and drinks in these countries.

Rising raw material costs. Prices of raw materials such as barley, sorghum, oats, maize (coarse grains) and wheat have been rising sharply due to extensive use of these products in biofuel production, elevated fuel prices and climate change. This has had a negative impact on the operating margins of the food and drinks companies.

Your questions answered...

• What are the drivers and resistors of growth of food and drinks industry?
• Which regions offer the leading food and drinks companies the greatest growth opportunities?
• What are the key trends in the global food and drinks industry?
• Who are the top 20 players in the food and drinks industry?
• What is the market share of each of the global food and drinks leaders by company?
• How do the leading food and drinks companies compare in terms of financial performance and coverage by country and category?
• What are the key strategies of the leading food and drinks companies and how do these strategies drive revenue and market share?