Recession was a good one for food industry

Roberts, who is senior partner at the European Food and Farming Partnerships, told FoodManufacture.co.uk in this exclusive podcast that the recession that hit in 2008 was one of the longest and deepest recessions the UK had experienced.

“If you look at the last recession in the early 1990s, six years after the start of that recession the economy was 15% bigger.  If you look at this recession, six years after the start, the economy hasn’t even recovered yet back to where it was in 2008,” ​he added.

A good recession ​

“Compared to some sectors, food manufacturing and food more broadly has had what you could call a good recession in as much as demand for food is much more elastic than construction – so construction got hit really badly, food much less so.”​

Listen to this podcast to find out why Roberts believed short-term pressures on food and drink manufacturers – such as the potential supermarket price war – shouldn’t cloud their long-term decisions and what lasting impact the recession would have on the food industry.