As Canadian foodservice continues to begin to rebound from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturing is expected to see more positive days ahead.
BDC’s latest Food and Beverage Manufacturing Outlook estimates that food and beverage manufacturing, Canada’s second-largest manufacturing industry, will grow by 15.6 per cent in the next five years.
The sector is anticipated to grow by 2.4 per cent in 2021 and a further 4.5 per cent in 2022.
The outlook notes that a major economic driver behind that surge has been the shift towards consumers buying more groceries with restaurants closed.
The outlook also concluded that the pandemic has exerted other pressures on the market such as rising global protectionism and commodity price volatility, a rethink of supply chain operations, evolving food preferences, and a fast-changing labour market.
RELATED: Predicting post-pandemic food consumption trends
With the prices of some commodities drastically higher than 16 months ago, BDC advises manufacturers to consider bringing more of their production processes or supply chain in-house, as well as utilizing mobile technology to attain more accurate real-time oversights and better predict customer demand.
Meanwhile, purchasing of local brands has increased significantly as consumers look to support their communities. BDC’s report found that since the start of the pandemic, one in five Canadians have increased their consumption of local products. In addition, three-quarters say they want to buy even more local products.
