Food-healthcare

Breaking down the boundaries between nutrition, healthcare, well-being and cosmetics, the food-healthcare sector (healthfoods, functional products, food supplements) is continuing to expand and infiltrate all different product ranges. This widescale expansion is based on partnerships and transfers of expertise, which are often initiated by the competitiveness clusters specialized in nutrition such as Vitagora in the Rhône Valley, Qu@limed in the Languedoc- Roussillon region, Prod’Innov in the Aquitaine region, Aliments de Demain (Food for Tomorrow) in the Brittany region, Nutrition Santé Longévité (Nutrition Health Longevity) in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.
In the west of France alone, 6,000 people are employed in the food-healthcare sector. Alongside leading French companies such as Danone and Lactalis, which produce bio-active and low-fat products, multinationals such as Unilever and Nestlé have chosen France as the location for their world R&D centers in this field.

Energy bio-ressources

Reductions in the supply of fossil fuels, and concern for the protection of the environment, have also opened up vast markets in agro-resources, including bio-energies (bio-fuels, bio-gas, electric cogeneration… etc.), bio-molecules
(bio-solvents, bio-lubricants, bio-polymers), or agro-materials such as hemp or linen that are increasingly being developed for use in the construction, automotive, textile industries etc. The Agro-resources cluster in the Champagne-Ardennes and

France attracted more than 15% of all international investment projects in this part of the world, which constitutes an average of 2,500 jobs per year.

Picardie region in particular, is an important catalyst for developing working partnerships between industrials and research laboratories. It aims to become the Europe’s leading center for the non-nutritional use of agroresources by 2015. This stimulating environment and the opportunities for market development in Europe, are strong arguments in favor France for the attraction of foreign companies. In 2006, the Spanish group Acciona, the German company Saria, the American company Cargill and the English company Ineos, all chose France as the location to set up or develop their activity in the bio-fuels sector.

Intermediate food products

The exchange of intermediate food products between industrials is a particularly active segment of the food market. With a growth rate of almost 10% over the past ten years, the intermediate food products and technical ingredients sector currently represents 25% of France’s national agro-food business. In 2006, the Irish companies Moy Park and Kerry Ingredients in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and the Japanese companies Ariake and Ajinomoto in the Normandy, Picardy and North regions, contributed to the development of this sector. These advantages make France one of the most attractive locations for agro-food investment projects in Europe. For this reason, between 2002 and 2005, France attracted more than 15% of all international investment projects in this part of the world, which constitutes an average of 2,500 jobs per year. Foreign companies account for almost one in four jobs in the agro-food industry in France.