Food and Drink Business Confidence survey
The FDF food and drink business confidence survey has been providing intelligence to FDF and key stakeholders since 2010, at what has been a difficult and unpredictable time for all businesses across the UK.
The information provided in this publication shows that despite low levels of
business confidence and significant cost pressures on food and drink
manufacturers
in 2011, FDF members and the industry as a whole have continued to grow, invest
and remain the UK's biggest industrial force.
In 2012 under FDF's 20/20 Vision for Growth, the survey will continue to provide intelligence directly from our members to
inform us and our partners under the Vision – BIS and Defra, on the financial
health of Britain's largest manufacturing sector and put in place the necessary
actions to create 20% sustainable growth by 2020.
In this survey:
Methodology
- For each quarter FDF send a multiple choice questionnaire to all member
companies asking for actual movements on the business indicators provided under
Table 1
(Full year results 2011) and the expected changes for the following quarter.
- The balance of change movements referred to throughout this publication relate
to:
% of positive (up) results – the % of negative (down) results mainly between Q1
and Q4.
- An example of survey questions can be viewed here.
- This publication compares survey responses against national data to explain how
the food and drink manufacturing sector performed in 2011 and provides an
outlook for 2012.
Survey Population
- The average quarterly sample of FDMs responding between Q1 and Q4 2011
represents 34,600 employees (9% of total UK FDM employment) and £8.9bn turnover
(12% of
total UK FDM turnover).
- The strongest levels of response were from SMEs and large corporates, therefore
providing a good representation of the sector.
More Information
Last reviewed: 05 Jan 2012