FoodReview: Setting Course for Global Food Markets
FoodReview No. ()
January 1900
About this magazine
The U.S. food sector is blending more and more into the world food market. Overseas markets offer
U.S. food companies opportunities for expanded sales. This issue of FoodReview looks at a number of
ways those firms are reaching foreign customers and how evolving foreign economies offer both
opportunities and challenges.
Although exports are traditionally thought of as the primary way to access overseas markets,
manufacturing foods abroad is the major way large U.S. food processors reach international markets.
Processed food sales by U.S.-owned manufacturing plants located in other countries amounted to $103
billion in 1994--four times larger than U.S. processed food exports of $25.8 billion.
U.S. food companies also frequently enter international markets through the use of licensing or
franchising agreements with foreign firms. In 1994, for example, 29 U.S. fast food and other types of
restaurant chains had 17,038 units operating abroad, up from just 900 units in the early 1970's.
The large and diverse market, a well-developed food production and distribution infrastructure, and
political stability in the United States make the U.S. food sector attractive to foreign investors. Food
retailing accounted for 42 percent of sales of foreign-owned food marketing firms in the United States in
1993. Sales by foreign-owned food retailing affiliates in the United States amounted to $51.5 billion in
1993--13 percent of U.S. foodstore sales.
With traditional trade barriers falling under the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade, some firms may try to use product and process standards for processed foods as impediments to
trade. To ward off this potential misuse, the Agreement created a clearer set of technical regulations and
measures to protect human, animal, and plant health and established stronger procedures for settling
disputes.
A look at economic conditions and trade opportunities around the world finds Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union confronting the challenges of adapting to a free-market economy. Economic reforms
following the 1992 breakup of the Soviet Union have caused production declines in Russia’s food
processing sector. At the same time, liberalization of foreign trade and demand by wealthier Russians
for higher quality and more convenient foods have led to rising imports of high-value processed foods
from the European Union and the United States into Russia. 1995's decline in output for Russia’s food
processing sector was less steep than in previous years and may signal a recovery, thereby offering
opportunities for foreign investors and exporters.
Bulgaria is facing a more difficult transition in moving from a state-controlled food production system to
a free-market economy. Bulgaria’s food processing firms, almost totally dependent on Soviet markets
during the Communist era, are struggling to adapt to the demands of new Western Europe markets.
USDA is working with the Bulgarian government to generate better market price reporting and analysis to
assist farmers, processors, and traders.
- Frontmatter (Upfront, Contents), 247 kb
- Processed Foods Trade Benefits U.S. Agriculture and Consumers, 200 kb
- Direct Investment Is Primary Strategy To Access Foreign Markets, 306 kb
- The U.S. Foodservice Industry Looks Abroad, 204 kb
- Trade Reforms Increase Likelihood of Challenges to Food Standards, 268 kb
- Russian Food Processing Modernizes as It Opens to the World Market, 312 kb
- Will the Surge Continue in Russia's HVP Imports?, 221 kb
- Bulgarian Retail Food Markets in Transition, 292 kb
- The Quality of Children's Diets At and Away From Home, 216 kb
- Public and Private Efforts for the National School Lunch Program, 243 kb
In this report ...
Articles are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
FOOD TRADE BENEFITS PRODUCERS, CONSUMERS
U.S. FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY LOOKS ABROAD
TRADE REFORMS CHALLENGE FOOD STANDARDS
REFORMS MODERNIZE RUSSIA'S FOOD SECTOR
RUSSIA'S HVP IMPORTS SURGE
BULGARIAN RETAIL FOOD MARKETS IN TRANSITION
CHILDREN'S DIETS AT AND AWAY FROM HOME
NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM
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Updated date: January 1900
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