Food firms look abroad to survive

Food companies in Greece are continuing to invest in production with their eyes firmly fixed on developments abroad, as foreign markets have been their only field of expansion in recent years, if not the very reason they have managed to weather the crisis.

It is no coincidence that, despite the general picture of fatigue that Greek exports have shown this year, food exports posted an annual increase of 9.8 percent in the first nine months of the year to add up to 3.13 billion euros, against 2.84 billion in January-September 2015. If one adds tobacco products and drinks, then the broader sector exported products worth 3.7 billion euros in the year to end-September.

The first Greek firm to receive funding from the so-called Juncker stimulus plan was a food company, Creta Farms. The cold cuts company mainly exports know-how, as it considers that the most beneficial...