The food industry in Brazil ended 2022 with revenues of BRL 1.075 trillion, 16.6% higher than the previous year. In the domestic market, sales reached BRL 770.9 billion, 14.3% more in nominal terms (not deflated) than in 2021. Total real sales (discounting inflation), considering the domestic market and exports, expanded by 3 .7%, and physical production increased by 2.5%. Exports grew 30% in value, with revenues of R$ 304.4 billion.
The generation of new jobs in the sector deserves to be highlighted: there were 58 thousand new jobs, an increase of 3.4%, totaling 1.8 million workers. The numbers are part of the sector’s annual economic balance sheet, prepared by the Brazilian Food Industry Association (ABIA) and released at a press conference attended by 30 journalists at the restaurant Duas Terezas, owned by chef Mariana Pelozio, in São Paulo .
In addition to national and international political and economic conjunctures, the results can also be attributed to investments in the expansion of manufacturing plants, research and development, mergers and acquisitions, purchase of machinery and equipment, which reached R$ 23.6 billion, a percentage of 2 .2% of the total revenue of the food industry.
“It is the first time that we exceed one trillion in revenues, and this shows a super positive scenario because 72% of this value comes from supplying the domestic market and only 28% comes from exports. The Brazilian food industry has increasingly shown that we are not just the breadbasket of the world, but we are also the supermarket, contributing to global food security. In addition, we promote the economic development of the interior of the country and absorb 1.8 million workers in formal jobs, enabling them to have a better quality of life”, says the president of ABIA’s Board of Directors, Gustavo Bastos.
He adds that, despite being conditioned by the acceleration of inflation in 2022, the expansion of sales by the food industry to the Brazilian food retailer increased by 1.7% in real terms. The highlight was the food service (food services outside the home), which continued on the path of resuming activities.
“Industry sales to the food service, in real terms, grew by 9.8% compared to 2021 (discounting the accumulated inflation in 12 months of the IPCA-IBGE food away from home group, of 7.5% ). The segment’s share of sales to the market reached 27.0%, surpassing that observed in 2021, of 26.3%. The process of strengthening the food service channel will continue over the next few years”, analyzes Bastos.
Exports
Brazil remains the second largest exporter of processed foods in the world: 64.8 million tons were sold to 190 countries, with emphasis on animal proteins, sugars, bran, oils and fats. Even so, sales abroad are equivalent to only 28% of the industry’s total revenue, while the domestic market represents 72%: in food retail, R$ 563.7 billion, and in food service (food outside the home) , BRL 208 billion.
“Throughout 2022, the growth of the world economy, despite the slowdown in the pace observed in 2021, continued to stimulate food consumption, a factor that, combined with the favorable exchange rate (R$/US$), contributed to the expansion of Brazilian exports of processed foods”, explains the executive president of the association, João Dornellas.
Production costs
In addition to agricultural commodities, the rise in packaging prices, at a level of over 30%, and fuel prices, between 25% (diesel) and 30% (natural gas), generated an average impact on the industrial cost of food production at a level of 15.0%, above the accumulated inflation in the year of the IPCA-IBGE food and beverage group, of 12.0%.
Raw materials, packaging and energy together represent 60% of the sector’s production cost. “On the supply side, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, starting in February, accentuated the ruptures in global supply chains that began with the pandemic, which increased the pressure on the availability and prices of agricultural, energy and raw materials. other inputs (fertilizers), commodities with prices formed in the international market, with direct impacts on production costs and food prices in Brazil and in the world”, explains Dornellas.
Outlook for 2023
Despite the fact that the current scenario of the Brazilian economy points to a slowdown in GDP growth, which currently converges to a range of 0.8% to 1%, the pressures on production costs that are still present and the uncertainties in relation to the world economy, the prospects for the food industry in 2023 remain positive. Actual production and sales are expected to increase between 1.5% and 2%; Domestic market sales are expected to increase moderately, with emphasis on food service.
Processed food exports also continue to face a more challenging scenario, given the reduction in projected growth for the world economy, according to a recent IMF assessment, of 2.9%, compared to +3.4% in October.
Among the stimulus factors are the horizon of maintaining the exchange rate (R$/US$), and the expansion of the economies of China, in the process of easing restrictions on the movement of people, and of India, stimulated by investments in infrastructure , with higher expansion projections, of 5.2% and 6.1%, respectively, according to the IMF.
On the supply side, the entry of the new grain harvest, starting in February 2023 – if the expansion projections of the production volume by Conab (National Supply Company) are confirmed, of up to 14.5%, even with possible losses of productivity caused by the drought resulting from the La Niña phenomenon, in some regions of the south of the country – is an important factor in improving the availability of raw materials and reducing pressure on production costs, a movement that is also in line with the trend accommodation of agricultural commodity prices in the international market in 2023.
*Text originally published at https://abia.org.br/releases/
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