The purpose of this report, firstly, is to deepen our understanding of the European food manufacturing firms, identifying what their main characteristics are in terms of size, profitability, sales volume, geographical distribution and their evolution in the last ten years. Secondly, this report aims to assess the environmental sustainability of European food manufacturing firms, and thirdly, to understand the scope of their international operations. Industries in the food manufacturing subsector transform livestock and agricultural products into products for intermediate or final consumption. The industry groups are distinguished by the raw materials (generally of animal or vegetable origin) processed into food products. The food products manufactured in these establishments are typically sold to wholesalers or retailers for distribution to consumers. As classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS 311), the Food Manufacturing sector, consists of nine subsectors.

This publication has been funded by the project ECO2016-75909-P, PID2019-106725GB-I00, PID2019-107767GA-I00 to MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER/Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento/ Proyecto A-SEJ-291-UGR18.