2023 Global Food and Beverage Top 100 List from Food Engineering

In this year's list, Nestlé still firmly holds the top spot. After a brief stay in the top three, ADM fell to the 5th place this year and ranked 6th. PepsiCo, JBS, and Tyson all moved up one place, while Mars fell out of the top ten. Among the top ten companies, except ADM, the food-related performance of the other top ten brands has increased.

1. Nestlé tops the list

Nestlé's food performance in 2022 was US$96.24 billion, once again ranking first. According to Nestlé's 2022 financial report, total sales for the full year increased by 8.4% to 94.4 billion Swiss francs (87.1 billion Swiss francs in 2021), with an organic growth rate of 8.3%.

Source: Nestlé

2. Pepsi returned to the second place this year

PepsiCo returned to the second place this year. PepsiCo's food performance in 2022 was US$86.39 billion, an increase of 8.7% year-on-year; operating profit was US$11.512 billion, an increase of 3.0% year-on-year. Compared with the 2021 list, the gap in food performance between PepsiCo and Nestlé is narrowing, and the competitive situation remains to be seen.

According to PepsiCo's 2022 financial report, compared with 2021, PepsiCo's net income in 2022 increased by 9%, and its business in North America was the largest contributor to its net income. In 2022, PepsiCo achieved more than 14% organic revenue growth and a 10% increase in core fixed exchange rate operating profit, which is PepsiCo's highest growth level in the past decade.

Source: pepsico

3. JBS returns to the top three

JBS, which celebrated its 70th anniversary, had a food performance of US$77.673 billion in 2022, ranking third on the list. Compared with last year, JBS's food performance and ranking have increased. According to JBS's 2022 financial report, its net income was 375 billion reais, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%. Net profit was 15.5 billion reais, a year-on-year decrease of 24.5%. This situation may be caused by high input costs, inflation, and imbalance between supply and demand.

Source: JBS SA

4. Tyson, Coca-Cola, and Cargill maintained stable rankings, while Olam International and CHS entered the top ten

In the 2023 Global Food and Beverage Top 100 list, the annual revenue of the top five companies exceeded US$50 billion, which is consistent with last year's list. In addition, Mars fell out of the top ten, while Olam International and CHS ranked in the top ten.

Anheuser-Busch InBev ranked fourth with a food performance of US$57.786 billion. In 2022, a large part of Anheuser-Busch InBev's business was conducted in developing markets, which accounted for about 60.1% of its revenue in 2022, while developed markets accounted for about 39.9% of its revenue in 2022.

Tyson Foods, ranked fifth, had a food performance of US$53.282 billion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 13.2%, compared with US$47.049 billion in the same period last year, and a net profit of US$3.238 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%. Operating profit was US$4.41 billion, compared with US$4.396 billion in the same period last year, and adjusted operating profit was US$4.414 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3%, with an operating profit margin of 8.3%.

ADM fell from second place last year to sixth place, with food sales of $47.97 billion, but its total revenue was $101.556 billion, surpassing the second-ranked PepsiCo (total revenue of $86.392 billion).

Cargill ranked seventh with food sales of $46.2 billion, jumping two places compared to last year. According to a full analysis by Food Engineering, the profit growth of Cargill, an agricultural giant and the largest private company in the United States, slowed down this year, mainly due to the small fluctuations in the global grain market and the sharp decline in the profit margin of meat processing in the United States.