MADRID, 4 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The snack sector, which groups companies that make chips, nuts and other snacks, closed the year 2022 with an increase in its turnover of 10.23% compared to the previous year, up to 2,755 million euros, which has led this market to grow above two digits for the first time in the last decade in a context marked by inflation.
In this line, for more than five years, the national market for appetizer and snack products has maintained constant growth, between 5 and 6%, “the result of innovation and the good work of the sector, which is increasingly relevant within the Spanish economic fabric”, as pointed out by the president of the Snacks Association, Marta Puyuelo, in an interview with Europa Press.
Along the same lines, the sector registered an increase of 1.31% in terms of volume in 2022, up to 360,663 tons, compared to the data achieved in 2021, when a production of 356,000 tons was reached.
Likewise, it was from 2018 to 2019 when the double-digit growth trend was broken, since the year before the outbreak of Covid the sector already experienced a 6% rise in its business, to 2,358.18 million euros.
Looking ahead to 2023, the president of the Snacks Association has predicted a “great summer”, since tourism presents a “good forecast” and this sector is “closely” linked to it.
By category, nuts, despite leading the demand in the snack sector, have been affected by inflation by reducing their volume in 2022 by 0.3% compared to the previous year, while growth in value stood at 1 ,3. 4%.
Behind nuts, which represented 42% of the market in 2022, were potato chips, with 34%, becoming the main driver of the sector, while the rest of snacks — tortillas, crusts, dehydrated fruits and other products– accounted for the remaining 24%.
Specifically, French fries experienced growth in volume of 3.5% and in value of 17%, while the rest of the snacks also maintained the same path, with increases of 4.75% in volume and 12% in value. .
Along these lines, the Snacks Association has explained that chips and snacks are not usually affected during economic crises, “since they are low-priced products and in which the impulse factor weighs heavily when making the purchase “.
The Snacks Association has pointed out that the snacks and snacks sector lives with cost inflation and not margins, which leads to a loss of competitiveness in this market, as the Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (FIAB) has already announced. ).
The average increase in production costs in 2022 in the snacks sector was 22% and, as part of the FIAB, the employers’ association has stressed that it supports and encourages to continue working “to be part of the solution in coordination with the Spanish authorities” .
The president of the Snacks Association has highlighted that high inflation has impacted all the links in the chain, with costs that have not been fully passed on to the consumer and that will increase due to climate change.
Regarding the tax on plastic, Puyuelo has described the moment in which this tax has arrived as “unfortunate”, since “other countries have decided to delay it”.
The Snacks Association has highlighted that 60% of the consumption of its products occurs at the time of the aperitif, at the same time that it has affirmed that the pandemic has not influenced the profile of the consumer or their consumption habits.
However, the president of the organization has affirmed that among the consequences that the Covid has left in the population is the increase in the consumption of snacks within the home, compared to the behavior observed before the year 2020.
Specifically, each person consumes 6.43 kilograms of snacks per year, a lower figure than any of the markets in the snack sector, according to the association.
Puyuelo has also highlighted that among the pending challenges facing the sector is decarbonisation, as it is an “intensive gas consumer”, as well as the drive, reinforcement and promotion of its competitiveness, which goes through digital transformation and in sustainability matter.
Finally, the board of directors has explained that from the association they have their hopes placed on the Next Generation EU, from which they await a second call “so that all the funds will finish flowing to the food and beverage industry”.
