Food and beverage processing

Stratum 2 · Assembled goods

Food and beverage processing

Turns crops, milk, meat and fish into safe, shelf-stable, branded food and drink. In the EU alone the industry turned over EUR 1.5 trillion in 2023 and added EUR 296 billion of value, making it one of the region's largest manufacturing sectors; the biggest firms are Cargill (EUR 142 billion of agri-food sales) and Nestle (CHF 91.4 billion in 2024), and the EU is the world's largest food and drink exporter, ahead of the US, Brazil and China.¹

India. India's food processing GVA rose from Rs 1.34 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 2.24 lakh crore in 2023-24, yet only about 4.5% of fruit and 2.7% of vegetables are processed, which leaves large room for cold chains, ingredients and branded foods; food exports topped US$ 49 billion in FY25³.

Where ₹100 of food and beverage processing output goes

Where ₹100 of food and beverage processing output goes Every rupee of sales is paid out to someone along the chain. This splits ₹100 of output by who finally receives it, so you can see how exposed the industry is to commodity, chemical and energy prices. Commodities ₹51.5 Chemicals ₹0.7 Energy…

Price links with supplier industries

Price links with supplier industries How the industries this one buys from shape its prices: the share of its costs they make up, and how their prices have moved together. Tap a row for the charts. Hover or tap ? for what each measure means. Supplier industry Cost share Raw-material mix…

Follow one offering through the chain

Follow one offering through the chain 2 Example story · 6 steps · India A pouch of Amul milk Follow a litre of milk from a Gujarat village to a pouch on your doorstep by breakfast. 1 / 6 · Farm and raw-material sourcing Milked in 18,600 Gujarat villages 36 lakh farmer members of Amul's federation…

Buys directly from

Buys directly from Paper and packaging Water and sanitation Depends on through its suppliers Wood products Sells directly into Wholesale and retail trade Healthcare services Hospitality and tourism

Value chain, from upstream to the customer

Value chain, from upstream to the customer Criticality to the chain: 5 · Chokepoint 4 · Critical 3 · Important 2 · Supporting 1 · Commodity service Stage 1 Farm and raw-material sourcing Farmers, dairy co-operatives and fisheries 3 · Important Grow grain, oilseeds, fruit, vegetables and livestock…

What the whole chain draws on

What the whole chain draws on Every commodity, chemical and energy tile named by the enterprises above; ×n shows how many of them depend on it. Open any tile for its full detail. Commodities (23) Su Sugar ×4 PO Palm oil ×3 Wh Wheat ×3 Mk Milk & dairy ×3 Mz Maize ×2 Cc Cocoa ×2 H₂O Water ×2 Al…

Chokepoints and risks

Chokepoints and risks Weather and disease shocks (drought, heatwaves, bird flu) move raw-material prices across a whole region at once. Low processing levels in India, about 4.5% of fruit and 2.7% of vegetables, mean high post-harvest wastage and thin cold chains 3 . Concentrated global grain and…

Sources

Sources Data and Trends of the European Food and Drink Industry 2026 (Eurostat and UN Comtrade data) FoodDrinkEurope, 2026 Annual Report 2024 Nestle S.A., 2025 India's food processing sector: shaping the future of global agri-food value chains Invest India, 2025

Relationship cards

• Wholesale and retail trade: Distribution is food processors' route to the consumer and one of their largest costs, about ₹13 of every ₹100 of output; kiranas still carry most of it, but quick commerce is taking share in big cities and squeezing traditional distributors. (researched)
• Flavours and fragrances: Packaged food and drink makers buy their taste from a few flavour houses, which pass input costs on in their prices; India sits upstream as the main source of mint oil and a large exporter of spice oils and oleoresins, while synthetic menthol and food safety rules set limits on natural flavour demand. (researched)
• Fluorochemicals and refrigerants: Food's cold chain, from supermarket chillers to refrigerated trucks, runs largely on HFC refrigerants such as R404A, while India's big cold stores mostly use ammonia; the Kigali phase-down, with India freezing HFCs in 2028, will push food cold chains towards lower-warming refrigerants as cooling demand grows. (researched)
• Heat pumps, air conditioning and refrigeration: Refrigeration is what lets perishable food be stored, processed and shipped, so the food industry is a major user of compressor cooling, and the same compressor technology, run as a heat pump, is becoming a way to supply the low-temperature process heat that food plants use. (researched)
• Hospitality and tourism: Processed food and drink are a major purchased input of hotels and restaurants, about ₹22 of every ₹100 of their output, and food service is a growing sales channel for processors; GST changes in September 2025 cut taxes on both sides of the link. (researched)
• Palm oil: Palm oil is the largest single vegetable oil, about 35% of world demand, and is semi-solid at room temperature, so food makers use it for frying, baking and spreads; India buys it from a market dominated by Indonesia and Malaysia, and Indian buyers switch towards soybean and sunflower oils when palm loses its price edge. (researched)
• Sugar: Institutional buyers, mainly food and drink makers, took about 60 to 65% of India's sugar in 2023 to 2024, so their input cost is set by a sugar market the government manages through a minimum selling price, export quotas and cane prices, while higher GST on sugared drinks since 2025 pushes the other way. (researched)
• Food and feed additives: Packaged foods rely on small doses of emulsifiers, preservatives, colours and flour treatments for texture, shelf life and consistency, and in India FSSAI decides which additives may go into which food; a single ruling, such as the 2016 ban on potassium bromate in bread, can force a whole product category to reformulate. (researched)
• E-commerce and digital marketplaces: Food and beverage processing buys from E-commerce and digital marketplaces; E-commerce and digital marketplaces buys from Food and beverage processing; food and beverage processing depends on E-commerce and digital marketplaces; E-commerce and digital marketplaces depends on food and beverage processing.
• Education and research: Education and research buys from Food and beverage processing; education and research depends on food and beverage processing.
• Electrical equipment: Food and beverage processing buys from Electrical equipment; food and beverage processing depends on electrical equipment.
• Finance: banking, insurance, markets: Food and beverage processing buys from Finance: banking, insurance, markets; food and beverage processing depends on finance: banking, insurance, markets.
• Healthcare services: Healthcare services buys from Food and beverage processing; healthcare services depends on food and beverage processing.
• Machinery and equipment: Food and beverage processing buys from Machinery and equipment; food and beverage processing depends on machinery and equipment.
• Paper and packaging: Food and beverage processing buys from Paper and packaging; food and beverage processing depends on paper and packaging.
• Plastic and rubber products: Food and beverage processing buys from Plastic and rubber products; food and beverage processing depends on plastic and rubber products.
• Professional services: Food and beverage processing buys from Professional services; food and beverage processing depends on professional services.
• Real estate: Food and beverage processing buys from Real estate; food and beverage processing depends on real estate.
• Transport and logistics: Food and beverage processing buys from Transport and logistics; food and beverage processing depends on transport and logistics.
• Water and sanitation: Food and beverage processing buys from Water and sanitation; food and beverage processing depends on water and sanitation.
• Activated carbon: Food and beverage processing depends on activated carbon.
• Adhesives and sealants: Food and beverage processing depends on adhesives and sealants.
• Aluminium: Food and beverage processing depends on aluminium.
• Ammonia: Food and beverage processing depends on ammonia.
• Bagasse and black-liquor cogeneration: Food and beverage processing depends on bagasse and black-liquor cogeneration.
• Barley: Food and beverage processing depends on barley.
• Boilers, furnaces and stoves: Food and beverage processing depends on boilers, furnaces and stoves.
• CNG, LPG and biogas distribution: Food and beverage processing depends on CNG, LPG and biogas distribution.
• Carbon dioxide: Food and beverage processing depends on carbon dioxide.
• Caustic soda: Food and beverage processing depends on caustic soda.
• Chromium: Food and beverage processing depends on chromium.
• Citric acid: Food and beverage processing depends on citric acid.
• Cocoa: Food and beverage processing depends on cocoa.
• Combustion road vehicles: Food and beverage processing depends on combustion road vehicles.
• Crude oil: Food and beverage processing depends on crude oil.
• Distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectors: Food and beverage processing depends on distribution grids, mini-grids and interconnectors.
• Electric motors and drives: Food and beverage processing depends on electric motors and drives.
• Energy in buildings: Food and beverage processing depends on energy in buildings.
• Energy in farming: Food and beverage processing depends on energy in farming.
• Energy-intensive industry: Food and beverage processing depends on energy-intensive industry.
• Herbicides: Food and beverage processing depends on herbicides.
• Hydrogen: Food and beverage processing depends on hydrogen.
• Industrial enzymes: Food and beverage processing depends on industrial enzymes.
• Insecticides: Food and beverage processing depends on insecticides.
• Latent heat and cold storage: Food and beverage processing depends on latent heat and cold storage.
• Maize: Food and beverage processing depends on maize.
• Milk & dairy: Food and beverage processing depends on milk & dairy.
• Natural gas: Food and beverage processing depends on natural gas.
• Nickel: Food and beverage processing depends on nickel.
• Nitrogen gas: Food and beverage processing depends on nitrogen gas.
• Oranges & juice: Food and beverage processing depends on oranges & juice.
• PET resin: Food and beverage processing depends on PET resin.
• Pepper & spices: Food and beverage processing depends on pepper & spices.
• Phosphate rock: Food and beverage processing depends on phosphate rock.
• Polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE): Food and beverage processing depends on polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE).
• Polypropylene: Food and beverage processing depends on polypropylene.
• Polyurethanes (MDI, TDI, polyols): Food and beverage processing depends on polyurethanes (MDI, TDI, polyols).
• Potash: Food and beverage processing depends on potash.
• Potatoes: Food and beverage processing depends on potatoes.
• Poultry: Food and beverage processing depends on poultry.
• Reagents and high-purity lab chemicals: Food and beverage processing depends on reagents and high-purity lab chemicals.
• Rice: Food and beverage processing depends on rice.
• Salt: Food and beverage processing depends on salt.
• Silica sand: Food and beverage processing depends on silica sand.
• Soybeans: Food and beverage processing depends on soybeans.
• Starch and cellulose derivatives: Food and beverage processing depends on starch and cellulose derivatives.
• Steel: Food and beverage processing depends on steel.
• Tankers, barges and fuel trucks: Food and beverage processing depends on tankers, barges and fuel trucks.
• Timber: Food and beverage processing depends on timber.
• Urea: Food and beverage processing depends on urea.
• Vitamins: Food and beverage processing depends on vitamins.
• Water: Food and beverage processing depends on water.
• Water treatment chemicals: Food and beverage processing depends on water treatment chemicals.
• Wheat: Food and beverage processing depends on wheat.