drinktec 2025 - Close to the customer

Munich | A press conference at the Lindenkeller in Freising on June 3, 2025, almost exactly 100 days before the opening of this year's drinktec, marked the end of the roadshow organized by trade fair organizer Yontex to promote the trade fair highlight of the year worldwide. The drinktec Roadshow is a tried-and-tested format for discussing the current market situation with multipliers from the global markets.

Preparations for drinktec 2025 are entering their final and most intensive phase. With strong registration figures, the world’s leading trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry is once again demonstrating its impressive standing. From 15 to 19 September 2025, over 1000 exhibitors from more than 50 countries will come together in Munich to showcase the latest trends in beverage and liquid food production. Spanning over 73,000 square metres, exhibitors will present solutions and expertise covering the entire value chain, addressing all industry challenges.

Rolf Keller, Managing Director of Yontex, underlines the importance of drinktec within the global beverage and liquid food market: "drinktec remains closely aligned with market needs, and this year’s edition is no exception. The strong response to drinktec 2025 is a testament to this strategic alignment."

The familiar distribution of one-third domestic and two-third international exhibitors will again be maintained this year. “The international exhibitor base is at the core of drinktec’s identity and underscores its strength. For visitors, this means that drinktec is uniquely positioned as the go-to platform for discovering future-oriented solutions tailored to the beverage and liquid food sectors worldwide,” Kosak continues. Once again, since 1951, Munich will serve as the global summit for raw materials, technology, and machinery related to the production and marketing of beverages and liquid foods.

A vision of the future

Looking ahead, the supporting programme has undergone a conceptual redesign, as Markus Kosak explains: "We are consolidating our programme in hall C4 with our new format, ‘Liquidrome’. This area will serve as a forum for knowledge exchange, exhibitor presentations, and interaction with academia and research. With Liquidrome, we are laying the foundation for the dialogue of the future."

This interactive space will broaden information access for visitors and offer insights into novel product concepts, the use of innovative technologies, and emerging market strategies. In close coordination with drinktec’s conceptual sponsor, the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association, the content will be structured around three central themes.

Under the topic ‘Circularity & Resource Management’, topics such as water reuse and wastewater treatment will be addressed. Presentations will explore how global requirements for water conservation can be implemented from various perspectives. Additional focal points include energy recovery, the use of by-products from production processes, and more efficient packaging material usage. The implementation of the EU’s Plastic and Plastic Waste Regulation (PPWR) will also be reflected in the lecture programme.

The second topic, ‘Data2Value’, focuses on process transparency and the integration of machine learning and AI-based applications. Topics include flavour prediction models and predictive maintenance. These approaches also apply to cleaning process design: AI combined with machine learning enables the detection of contamination levels in containers and triggers self-adjusting cleaning cycles accordingly.

The third topic, ‘Lifestyle & Health’, provides inspiration on flavour solutions for low- or no-alcohol beers, alcohol-free wines, and fermented beverages – empowering manufacturers to tap into this growing segment with optimised recipes. Functional drinks enriched with minerals, vitamins, amino acids, fibre, or probiotics are expected to gain market share. The addition of plant-based proteins, some derived from brewing by-products, will also become increasingly important.

Startup zone – strong participation

Part of the Liquidrome, the Startup zone has seen a particularly strong response this year. These startups demonstrate clear innovation potential, particularly in IT solutions for the industry. Maintenance management systems, cloud technologies, and other digital solutions are a key focus. Young companies are also concentrating on energy and heat supply for beverage production and the development of innovative additives.

The exhibition team has observed clear momentum in the ingredients and new beverages segment. The Health bar, integrated within the Liquidrome, will showcase concepts for health-promoting drinks – a segment consistently gaining market share, according to analysts.

The trade fair team is closely monitoring the activities of researchers and ingredient producers, as forecasts predict global annual growth rates of over 8% in this segment through 2028. The New Beverage Concept (NBC) special area in hall C3 will also present ideas for novel ingredients and flavour variations – even beyond the health-oriented sphere. Dr. Roman Werner, head of the TUM Venture Lab Food/Agro/Biotech, gave an insight into beverage innovations from startup companies at the Technical University of Munich in Freising.

Market situation in food processing machinery

At the press conference, the VDMA traditionally provides an overview of the market situation in the food processing and packaging machinery sector, reporting a decline in production of almost two percent to EUR 16.1 billion, while exports grew strongly by six percent to EUR 10.6 billion. "Investment activity in Germany was significantly weaker than expected in 2024, so even the significant increase in foreign deliveries could not compensate for the decline in domestic sales," explained Richard Clemens, Managing Director of the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association. Only in packaging machinery did total machine production increase by two percent to EUR 8.3 billion, driven by growth in the beverage packaging machinery sub-group.

Unsettling tariffs

With an average export turnover of 84 percent, the food processing and packaging machinery sector is one of the strongest export sectors in the German mechanical engineering industry. The USA has been by far the most important market for German manufacturers of food processing and packaging machinery for many years. In 2024, machines worth EUR 1.8 billion (+7% compared to 2023) were delivered from Germany to the United States.

According to a recent VDMA survey, however, a clear majority of mechanical engineering companies are increasingly uncertain about the US market, as 87% have a US business and two thirds of these have their own local sales organization. “We hope that negotiations will be reached with the EU Commission, as high tariffs or even a tariff war with the European Union will ultimately only lead to everyone losing,” says Clemens.

China is also one of the most important markets for mechanical engineering companies, but fell to third place in the top 10 list behind France in 2024. German exports to the People's Republic fell by 26% to EUR 448 million in 2023 and stagnated at this level in 2024. In addition to the ongoing economic weakness, the Chinese “buy local” strategy is also leaving its mark.

The European markets, which account for 47 percent of exports, are proving robust, growing by a total of 4.3 percent in 2024. Strong momentum with significant double-digit growth rates came from almost 40 non-European markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Angola, and Nigeria.

Global machinery trade – Europe leads, China catches up

The global food and beverage industry is one of the most dynamic growth industries and is the most important industrial sector in many countries. Therefore, not only are German exports increasing, but the global trade volume of food and packaging machinery has also been growing continuously for many years, reaching a preliminary high of EUR 54.5 billion in 2024.

Europe still clearly leads the international trade in food processing and packaging machinery, accounting for almost 70 percent. Italy and Germany are the most important supplier countries, each accounting for 20 percent of global trade. Germany is even stronger in some sub-sectors: In 2024, one in three internationally traded beverage packaging machines and one in two brewery machines came from Germany. China has caught up significantly in recent years and is the third most important supplier of food processing and packaging machinery, accounting for 12 percent of global trade volume.

Positive global outlook – Consumption and beverage variety increasing worldwide

The future prospects for technology providers are positive, as the global beverage industry is growing. According to Euromonitor International, around 1.1 trillion liters of bottled and packaged beverages will be sold worldwide in 2024. According to forecasts by the British market research company, sales will increase by around 14% by 2028. Euromonitor predicts that the Africa/Middle East and Asia/Pacific regions will continue to see double-digit growth in this period, while beverage sales in the saturated markets will only increase slightly. The focus here is on qualitative growth and product innovations. According to Euromonitor, 7000 new non-alcoholic beverage products were launched worldwide in 2024 alone, while almost 6300 new alcoholic beverage products were launched. The largest proportion of innovations were launched in the USA, Canada and European countries.

The entire industry expects positive momentum from drinktec 2025. "We are very much looking forward to the international supplier industry presenting its innovations at the most important industry platform and to being able to discuss requirements and important topics with the international trade audience in person," Richard Clemens concluded.