Welcome to Primary Food Processors

PFP is the association for the European primary food processing industry to the European institutions and international organisations.

  • Processing 47 million t of wheat, rye & oats each year to produce high-quality flours

  • 55 million tonnes of oil commodities per year for food, feed, technical and energy

  • Two-thirds of Europe’s cocoa beans grinding, half of Europe’s industrial chocolate production and 40% of the world production of cocoa liquor, butter and powder

  • More than 1.1 million tonnes of vegetable proteins are processed and consumed in Europe each year

  • Processing about 24 million tonnes of agricultural raw materials (17 million tonnes of cereals and 7 million tonnes of starch potatoes) into 11 million tonnes of starch and 5 million tonnes of co-products.

  • Total EU beet sugar production is around 15 million tonnes per year

  • 220 million tonnes of agricultural raw material yearly processed generating over 120.000 jobs with a turnover of 70 billion euros + providing indirect employment to more than 1 million farmers.

PFP is the association for the European primary food processing industry to the European institutions and international organisations

Primary Food Processors represent a vital link in the food and feed chain, turning agricultural raw materials from farmers into a range of safe and high-quality primary food products for human consumption and feed materials destined for animals. We process over 220 million tonnes of agricultural raw materials every year. Primary Food Processors are the largest users of domestic cereals, starch potatoes, sugar beet and oilseeds in the EU. They are also sizeable users of imported commodities, like cocoa, soybeans, tropical oils and, to a certain extent, high-quality wheat.

Agriculture

ensuring food security in Europe

Sustainability

contributing to Europe’s industrial and green transitions

We need a primary processing industry in Europe.

EU Primary Food Processors transform agricultural raw materials — such as cereals, oilseeds, sugar beet, starch crops, cocoa, and vegetable oils — into essential ingredients for Europe’s food and feed sectors. Through their close cooperation with farmers, PFP members form a vital link between agriculture and the food manufacturing industries. As biorefineries, they contribute to the goals of the bio-based economy. The quality and safety of both agricultural raw materials and end products is paramount to our industries.

Latest News

Co-generation in the PFP industry (2011 | 2011
Registrations for the 2025 PFP Forum are now open | 2025
PFP Forum 2020 on Climate Change | 2020
PFP Position on the CAP post-2020 | 2019
Programme of the 2017 Forum : Assessing Environmental Footprint within the agri-food chain | 2019
PFP co-signatory of the joint paper “For an ambitious EU industrial strategy: going further” | 2019
PFP call for minimum trade disruption post Brexit | 2019
Joint press release : European Parliament confirms exclusion of marketed feed from waste legislation | 2019
PFP joins 124 other industry associations in calling for a strong industrial strategy | 2019
Press release : PFP welcome the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee vote on the approach for post 2020 EU ETS Carbon Leakage protection | 2019
Press release : PFP welcomes the European Parliament’s Industry Committee vote on the revision of the EU ETS | 2019
Press release: Towards a better functioning food supply chain: “The EU needs a strong and competitive primary food sector” | 2019
Primary Food Processors make a plea for voluntary use Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) | 2017

Primary Food Processors link farmers to markets, transforming agricultural crops into the ingredients necessary to produce the plant-based food consumed by millions of EU citizens every day.

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors