This company is a constituent of the food and staples sector. We all need to eat and drink: essentials such as food, drink and staples sell in any kind of business environment, which is why this sector is strong during economic downturns as well as booms. It also covers those ‘near-essentials’, luxury goods that some people do not want to be without, such as alcohol and tobacco. The food and staples sector now stretches all the way from the growers to retailers.
On the retail side, supermarkets and online stores own the lion’s share of the market in developed countries. Shoppers now want to have everything in one place, and a greater choice of goods too. Why be content with only one variety of tomato ketchup? Over the last 20 years supermarkets have just been getting bigger, and expanding outside their domestic markets as well, buying up retail chains in other countries.
While price pressure has always been an issue sector-wide, retailers are also well aware that they’re serving everyone – every budget, every age, every taste. Recent trends have included the introduction of organic food and food from farms where workers’ health, safety and fair pay are important.
Makers of food supplements form a large part of this industry. They help to make food and drinks taste better, last longer, and add nutritious elements.
Watch this space: The food and staples sector can be a highly politically-charged one. For starters, many countries subsidise this sector seeking to protect their farmers and keep them working on the land. Farmers’ unions often exercise enormous influence. Such protectionist measures can also throw up international spats over import duties. Major swings in the prices of agricultural commodities make this picture even more complex.
