Conference: Promoting competitiveness in the agro-food industry

Why?

WHY this conference?

Many programs are on going at the European level. Amongst those, some are dedicated to the food industry with the aim of improving its competitiveness i.e. its capacity to grow and prosper.

WHY is it worth attending this conference?

Currently and in the future, significant changes are likely in the economic environment facing the Food Industry at the EU and world level:

1. The Common Agricultural Policy will be more and more directed towards farm producers while market supports will be progressively dismantled.

2. Due to its dispersed structure, the Food Industry is in a weak position when negotiating with the retail sector.

3. Consumers' preferences are becoming more and more quality demanding encompassing a switch to a more healthy way of life.

4. The emerging developing countries are causing a notable increase in the demand for food so that scarcity of supply is now becoming a new risk.

In this conference, other European business operators will share their experience in respect of these challenges.

WHY particularly SME's?

SME's will play a key role in the sustained effort to keep the European food sector competitive with their concentration on high quality, high value and innovative products. At the moment, it is clear that, due to normal business pressures, SME's leaders have no time to enquire what is going on at European Level. Therefore, this conference will be an opportunity on the one hand for SME's to improve their knowledge in the area of innovation and on the other for the Commission to better understand their concerns.

Issues and challenges

The Slovenian Food Industry consists of about 500 small and medium sized enterprises, together employing some 20.000 people. The sector is very dynamic and meets high technology and quality standards. The main sub-sectors are: meat, dairy, bakery, together with wine and oils.

Main specific issues to be addressed are: access to raw materials; access to consumers and markets; supply chain integration, both upstream and downstream; industry relations with the retail sector; networking and access to know how and information.