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Business Confidence

The FDF's Business Confidence Survey showcases the current economic views of FDF members on a quarterly basis. Find out more about our most recent survey results.

FDF conducted the first of its new quarterly business confidence surveys between 4-19 April 2018 to gauge confidence levels in the food and drink manufacturing sector in Q1 2018.

We received responses from businesses with a combined UK turnover of over 10% of food and soft drink manufacturing. 60% of responses came from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Key findings

• The latest FDF Food and Drink Business Confidence Survey shows that over half of respondents believe the general business conditions have remained the same in Q1 2018 compared to Q4 2017, over a quarter believe conditions have deteriorated, while fewer than 1 in 5 reported an improvement.
• The top 3 opportunities that companies identified for 2018 are increased domestic demand, planned investment in new product launches and increased demand for healthy food products.
• The top 3 barriers that companies believe will impact the success of their business during 2018 are increased ingredients costs, exchange rate volatility and uncertainty over the UK's relationship with the EU.

View the full results here

Confidence Survey