COMPONENTS FOR MILLING SYSTEM

Used in the Milling and General Industrial fields. Made from Z200 basis weight galvanised steel or, on request, AISI 304 2b stainless steel with thicknesses of 6-8-10-12/10 and various diameters and sizes for both standard Seven products and for customised productions.

gone through in the past decade, not to mention the resilience it showed last year, despite everything. Nevertheless, the food industry has managed to capitalize significantly on growth and competitiveness in recent years, both in the domestic and international markets, to the benefit of the country as a whole. However, this countercyclical capital was eroded by the events in 2022, especially in the SME segment. In fact, after the important results achieved in the long run, last year the food industry was hit by a “perfect storm”, due to simultaneous hikes in the prices of several raw materials and energy; items for which Italy largely and necessarily depends on foreign countries.

The food industry production

Two phenomena have thus emerged, in striking contrast to the recent history of the industry. The first - after decades during which food prices had always had a moderating effect, growing substantially less than inflation (or even equalling it occasionally), last February, for “processed food”, they reached a +16.2% peak, against a +9.2% level of inflation. The second - last year, the food market, which has always been characterised by a significant stability, in close connection with the anti-cyclical aspect of this industry, registered an average reduction in food sales of -4.2% in volumes, against a parallel increase in value of +4.5% (due to price inflation). This resulted in a completely unusual 8.7 point spread between the two deltas. As a result, food industry production inevitably slowed down in the late months of 2022, closing the year with a +1.2% trend. However, apart from macro data, the economic balance of companies found itself highly affected by the reduction of unit margins, accompanied in many cases by the double-digit push of food discount stores and the progressive expansion of white brands. In a nutshell, savings as the consumer’s guiding star.

The costs of the food sector

We should bear in mind that, unlike other manufacturing sectors, the food sector’s cost pressure was faced on the market with the great bargaining power of the large-scale retail trade,

THE FOOD MARKET: SHARP DROP IN FOOD SALES

which exerted downward pressure on processing profits, especially with reference to SMEs with no recognised and important brand. It is also true that the large-scale retail trade itself has taken, for its part, widespread responsibility for this downward pressure, in order to cool down the market as little as possible. However, it is a fact that the flattening of profitability has had a much bigger impact on processing, which in the vast majority of cases is characterised by a far lower turnover than the large-scale retail trade and by far higher energy consumption levels. On the shelves, the highest peaks for consumer prices in December included sugar, which reached +50.8%, and edible seed oils +47.5%, followed by butter +42.7%, rice +38.2%, preserved milk +35.2%, and margarine +29.9%. It should be noted that - once again proving that strong tensions still exist - five out of these six products showed a further strengthening of their growth rate in December. However, pending new possible negative outbreaks, food market prices should have peaked in early 2023. That is to say that the cooling down of the economy, together with the partial reduction of energy

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