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Annual Review 2009 - Leading from the front

Ross Warburton, FDF President

In my report last year I reflected on how the worsening economic situation, continued volatility in raw materials prices and weakening consumer confidence were all impacting our sector.

Ross WarburtonAlthough things were clearly tough – and getting tougher – I also predicted that food and drink manufacturers would rise to the challenges they were facing, demonstrate their resilience, and retain their place as the most dynamic and successful component of British manufacturing.

And I was right. Throughout the recession, the UK's biggest manufacturing sector has continued its excellent track record of maintaining strong output, providing employment opportunities nationwide and generating wealth for the nation. In doing so, we confirmed our status as a high value manufacturing sector offering world class capabilities in areas of production, logistics, sales, marketing and innovation.

Ours is truly a great British success story – and we should all be proud of it. That's why FDF has long argued that Government must put our sector at the heart of its economic thinking – particularly as policy makers look to rebalance the UK economy away from an over-reliance on financial services. We believe firmly that national policy must reflect the key strategic role food and drink manufacturers will play in ensuring the nation's future food security against the combined effects of climate change, higher global demand and increasing pressure on finite resources.

Therefore, it is encouraging to report that policy makers have woken up to these challenges – helped, in no small measure, by FDF's tireless efforts to raise the profile of our sector – and I am pleased we have seen Government take some encouraging first steps towards developing a more strategic approach to our sector with the launch of Defra's Food 2030 vision.

The importance of the food manufacturing sector is also clearly recognised throughout this strategic document. More than that, in his introduction to Food 2030, Gordon Brown said that he too was proud of the UK food sector and rightly acknowledged that Government must play its part in ensuring that the food industry can “thrive as an innovative, competitive and resilient sector”.

All of which is to be applauded. But it is now time to turn fine words into some meaningful action through a cross- Whitehall strategy that will safeguard the future success of UK food and drink manufacturing. We have lots of ideas about how to do that – and we are eager to work in genuine partnership with key departments to develop a meaningful action plan.

Given our sector's relative size and economic importance, we clearly recognise that the food and drink industry has a responsibility to respond positively to society's concerns about the health of the nation, as well as reducing its environmental impact and supporting efforts to move towards a low-carbon future.

As you will read in this annual report, FDF and its members are playing their part – through our innovative reformulation efforts and our ground-breaking work under the auspices of the Five-fold Environmental Ambition. But all of our work is built on the back of having a successful and competitive food and drink manufacturing sector here in the UK.

So what do we want to see from a future Government?

A clearer, more coherent and consistent approach to food policy right across departments would be a good start. And we want an appropriate regulatory environment here in the UK so that our industry can remain competitive – particularly against other European manufacturers.

But we have a more basic demand: given our economic, strategic and social importance, we believe it's high time that Government stopped taking the food and drink industry for granted.

We are not alone in thinking this way. The Government's own Council of Food Policy Advisors made a similar point in a recent report in which it urged Ministers to include the country's biggest manufacturing sector in their strategic thinking about Britain's economic future.

I was particularly struck by the Council's call for Government to do more to celebrate our sector's successes; recognise our contribution to the economy and employment; and promote what is best about our food, here and abroad.

All of which is music to our ears. Our challenge for the year ahead is making sure that these important messages do not fall on deaf ears and FDF will be working hard to ensure that the Government actively supports one of the UK's few manufacturing success stories and no longer takes us for granted.

In this review

FDF: steered by our members -

Industry in action:

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