agriculture and food economy in poland

FOOD INDUSTRY
General information about the food industry
Food industry, comprising the production of foodstuffs and beverages as well as
tobacco products, accounts for 1/5 of the total sales of the Polish industry. There are
over 30 000 food processing establishments, however, in 2003 only 1526 enterprises
employed 50 and more people and ca 1 250 medium-size companies employed 9-50
people. The remaining establishments have small production capacities and operate
on local markets. In 2003 the number of the smallest and the biggest enterprises fell
down, whereas that of medium enterprises remained stable.
The majority of the Polish food industry is privately owned. In 2003 within the
group of the biggest enterprises (50 and more employees) as little as 7.7% of
product and raw material sales came from the public sector establishments.
Within the last three years the food industry output has been increasing faster
than domestic demand and agricultural production. This implies that the share of
the industry in the fulfilment of the demand and utilisation of agricultural produce
is increasing.
One of the major factors of the food industry development has been export, in
particular within the last two years. As compared to the period prior to the economic
transformation, the output of food, beverages and tobacco products rose by 35%.
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