Amid soaring global food prices, the 10 largest global food and beverage multinationals, by market value, did not increase their combined size through 2022, but their profits shot up an average of 59.16 percent. percent, driven by firms involved in the intermediation of grains and fertilizers such as The Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) and Bayer, according to the most recent data reported to the stock market.
The list headed by Nestlé, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo does not include Cargill or Mars, which are the first and fourth largest private companies in the United States, according to a follow-up done by Forbes, by reporting income of 164 billion and 45 billion dollars, respectively; At the same time, they are located in the first places of the firms with the greatest presence in the commercialization of grains and already processed foods worldwide.
Such is the size of Cargill – owned by one of the 10 wealthiest families in the United States and the one with the greatest presence in the grain market worldwide – that it manages to report incomes up to 81 percent higher than those of the Swiss Nestlé, the world’s largest food company by market value. Even according to the list of Forbes, by 2022 the income of the agricultural firm is 3 thousand 148 percent higher than those reported by Twitter, which became a private company, when it was acquired by magnate Elon Musk.
Apart from the hunger data reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with more than 828 million people in this condition at the end of 2021, over the past year the price of food has increased above headline inflation in 90 percent of the 161 countries that have data, according to the World Bank.
The attack on Ukraine paralyzed a large amount of grain supplies and, in parallel, the prices of corn and wheat are respectively 28 and 18 percent higher than in January 2021, while those of rice are 11 percent higher. low, according to the agency.
Due to their commercial presence and market value, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mondelēz, ADM, Bayer, General Mills, Sysco Corporation and Danone are the largest food and beverage companies – grain and processed – worldwide. and that are listed on the stock market. Last year their combined capitalization decreased 2.7 percent, going from one trillion 320 billion dollars at the end of 2021 to one trillion 284 billion at the end of 2022, but their earnings for 12 months accumulated until the financial reports of the third quarter increased 59.16 percent on average.
Four of those firms had their profits fall, which do not represent everything recorded in 2022, since financial reports for the last quarter are missing. At Nestlé they fell 11.7 percent at the annual rate; at Unilever, 6.9 percent; at Mondelēz, 57.7 percent, and 31 percent at Danone.
In Coca-Cola profits increased 14.3 percent; at PepsiCo they did so at 21.5 percent; those of General Mills advanced 1.5 percent; those of Sysco Corporation, 23.2 percent, while those of ADM and Bayer –both directly involved in the agricultural market, like Cargill, and not necessarily in food processing– reported the most notable growths, of 96 and 542.4 percent, respectively. .
In its most recent update on food security, the World Bank stated that, according to the Global Hunger Index, the accumulation of simultaneous crises it has drastically weakened the world’s food systems, which were already inadequate and unsustainable. As a result, the world is experiencing the third global food crisis in less than two decades.
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