David Hughes

Dr. David Hughes is Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London, and Visiting Professor at the Royal Agricultural University, U.K. As “Dr. Food”, he is a much sought-after speaker at international conferences and seminars on global food industry issues, particularly consumer and retail trends. David has lived and worked in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Africa and Southeast Asia and has extensive experience as an international advisory board member with food companies and financial service organizations on three continents.

LECTURE BY DAVID HUGHES

Buckle up seat belts for some very bumpy years!
What’s happening in and around the global food industry?
Session 2, 17 June 2022

Crash helmets on and buckle up seatbelts. European bakery businesses best ensure they can show maximum resilience during what looks like to be a hugely challenging year ahead.

• 2022 food price inflation the highest level globally for the past 50 years;
• particularly in lower income countries, high food prices provoke citizen unrest and political instability;
• energy costs spike and interest rates are on the rise;
• food shopping and consumption behaviour change as consumers struggle to cope with a raft of inflationary pressures;
• an acceleration in omni-channel shopping as consumers become more comfortable with new routes for food to home and office;
• rising consumer concerns about the impact of their food purchases on the planet have a profound impact on food purchasing decisions. Consumer-led demand for planet-friendly food outpaces government regulation on environmental/sustainability issues;
• we’re not out of the pandemic yet and the next Covid variant could be much more insidious than Omicron;
• and, not least, the tragic war in Ukraine with its European-wide implications still unfolding.