Food and drink lead manufacturing
Greece’s food and drink industry remains the largest domestic manufacturing domain, as it was during the crisis. This is reflected not only in the number of businesses and employees, but also in the gross added value of these industries in Greek manufacturing.
While Greek business spending on research and development – a key sector for boosting innovation – falls short of the European average, the food and beverage industries are leading the way in investment in this sector.
According to a study by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) carried out on behalf of the Association of Greek Food Industries, food and drink covers 28.1% of all Greek manufacturing companies (56,604 enterprises), which ranks it first among manufacturing industries, with metal products (13.9%) and machinery and equipment repair (8.2%) next.
Such is the dynamic of the country’s food and drinks industry that its production value amounts to 24.4% of the total production value of manufacturing (61.8 billion euros). It is followed by the basic metals sector (8%), metal products (5.1%), chemical products (4.5%) and pharmaceuticals (3.9%), in which investments are already implemented both in research and development, and in drug production.
