There’s no denying that this is an interesting and potentially difficult time to be in business in the UK. As well as Brexit looming large on the horizon, there’s the growing tide of public opinion against single-use plastics, as well as ever-improving technology.
Within the food and drink sector, there are specific challenges, as well as opportunities, for firms to embrace.
A blog post for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) recently shared the views of three food and drinks producers from the south west about what they see as the main opportunities and challenges ahead.
Rich Clothier, managing director at cheese producer Wyke Farms, said that while Brexit could have an impact on food production in the UK, there are other markets to focus on away from Europe that present growth opportunities.
“China will take over as the world’s largest economy relatively quickly and in India 350 million people will join the middle classes in the next ten to 15 years,” he stated.
However, he expressed concern that it doesn’t appear as though “the basic building blocks” are being put in place by government to facilitate strong trade with these growing economies, particularly India.
The CBI noted that the government is trying to boost productivity among the UK’s food and drinks manufacturers, but that there are three things that are holding some back – technology, infrastructure and skills.
Introducing the latest technology and making use of specialist food processing engineering is all well and good, but it’s also costly. While the government is providing support to some businesses, this isn’t available across the board.
Where infrastructure is concerned, Bristol-based Janis Sinton, managing director of TasteTech, explained that much more needs to be done.
TasteTech is hoping to move to a bigger factory, but Mrs Sinton pointed out that although there’s more space along the M4 corridor, the infrastructure isn’t good enough for a move there to be beneficial.
“The traffic is appalling and public transport is poor, so I need my factory to be where most of my employees live, rather than sticking it out on the M4 corridor,” she stated.
Upskilling staff is another area that many food and drink manufacturers are focusing on, the CBI post noted. However, the organisation’s sector development director George McFarlane pointed out that many firms are reporting a challenge in terms of “maintaining access to talent and skills from the EU”.
Managing director at dairy company Yeo Valley Karl Tucker told the CBI that they have an engineering apprentice scheme that’s been running for five years to try and alleviate some of these issues, but added that there are fewer people leaving higher education with food-related degrees and that’s leading to a shortage of “new blood”.
The New Statesman recently pointed out that food and drink is the biggest manufacturing sector in the UK, with chair of the Food and Drink Manufacturing APPG John Stevenson writing in the publication that it’s worth £110 billion to the country’s economy.
As such, he urged the government to protect the sector throughout the Brexit negotiations, as well as during the transition period and beyond.