The food and packaging machinery industry is showing stability despite global uncertainties
Slight increase in production, robust foreign markets - but high location costs are weighing on competitiveness
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With a slight increase in production and positive sentiment, the food processing and packaging machinery sector is starting 2026 with cautious optimism. While high order backlogs supported production in 2025 and international markets offer attractive potential, structural locational disadvantages are increasingly weighing on competitiveness - reforms are needed.
According to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office, the food processing and packaging machinery sector will see a slight increase in production of between 2% and 3% in 2025, reaching a production value of around 16.5 billion euros. However, the growth in the third-strongest (2024) mechanical engineering sector is primarily due to the high order backlog with which companies in the sector started 2025.
Order intake virtually unchanged - positive company situation
Order intake was subject to very strong fluctuations in 2025 due to the difficult global conditions and lacked a clear direction. Despite trade conflicts, geopolitical upheaval and high levels of uncertainty, the bottom line is that price-adjusted order intake in the food processing and packaging machinery sector remained almost at the previous year's level, down 0.5%.
The VDMA economic survey from January 2026 - based on the fourth quarter of 2025 - showed a predominantly positive mood: 40% of the participating manufacturers of food processing machinery, pharmaceutical machinery and packaging machinery rated their current situation as good to very good, while only 6% rated their situation as poor. Only 10 percent of companies expect the business situation to deteriorate over the next six months.
Market potential remains high - moderate growth expected
In contrast to many specialist branches of mechanical engineering, the sector is less affected by structural problems in its customer industries. Although the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries have to deal with numerous challenges, in particular high raw material and energy prices, sales of end products in these industries are very robust in many countries.
The broad international positioning of mechanical engineering companies also leads to risk diversification; regional differences in demand can be largely balanced out. Many emerging economies are experiencing continuous growth in the food and beverage industry, which is leading to additional investment in processing and packaging technology. Accordingly, the regional business opportunities in South and Central America, Africa and the Middle East as well as Central and South Asia were predominantly assessed positively in the VDMA economic survey.
Against this backdrop, the German Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association is forecasting moderate sales growth of 3% for 2026.
Location conditions impact competitiveness
In numerous foreign markets, companies are facing increasing competitive pressure from China. The technological lead and the associated competitiveness of German and European manufacturers can only be maintained if the structural locational disadvantages in Germany and Europe - in particular bureaucracy, energy and labor costs - are reduced. The companies expect corresponding reforms from politicians.
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