The Food from Finland program boosted exports strongly
Food from Finland team at Food ingredients Europe trade fair in Frankfurt, November 2023. From left: Erika Wang, Esa Wrang, Annaleena Soult, Lili Lehtovuori and Sari Paavilainen.
The Food from Finland program, set to conclude at the end of 2023, has diversified the target markets for the Finnish food industry and increased the global visibility of the sector.
The export market expanded worldwide
Launched in 2014, the program reduced dependence on the Russian market and developed a more balanced portfolio of target markets. The goals included doubling the value of Finnish food exports, increasing the focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and enhancing the Finnish food and beverages brands in international food markets.
The key target markets of the program were Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. In addition, Finnish food products gained recognition in other European markets, the United States, the Middle East, Singapore, and South Africa.
Program Director Esa Wrang mentions in his blog that food exports have seen significant growth in these target countries since 2014: France (+730%), China (+230%), South Korea (+158%), Germany (+135%), Denmark (+107%), Japan (+86%), Norway (+85%), and Sweden (+26%).
Companies participating in the program increased their exports by an average of 36.4% during the second program period (2019–2022). Despite significant challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, Finland's food exports reached an all-time high of 2.3 billion euros in 2022, growing by 70% since 2014 (excluding the influence of the Russian market).
Food industry aims at reducing greenhouse emissions
The food industry aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2035. The Food from Finland program contributed to this goal by reducing printed materials, acquiring carbon-neutral exhibition stands, and highlighting sustainability in 51.2% of all program events.
Although the program is ending, Esa Wrang emphasizes that Finland has a good opportunity to become a country with a fully transparent, safe, and responsible food chain, with the help of open data usage created by Food Data Finland growth engine at the forefront. GS1 Finland collaborated closely with Food from Finland program, and now leads the growth engine in collaboration with key Finnish food industry companies.
Business Finland provides funding and expert services for food and beverages companies' development and internationalization activities also in the future.
The Food from Finland program, implemented in two parts (2014–2018 and 2019–2023), received funding from both the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. In practice, the program also collaborated on exports with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finnish embassies, the Finnish Food Authority, and other key stakeholders in the industry. Throughout its operational periods, the program organized 450 export promotion events, contacted thousands of customers, and strengthened the internationalization of over 200 Finnish companies in 15 target markets.
