By Dr. Bernhard Reichenbach, Chefredakteur

The news is not exactly pleasant: Citizens and companies in Germany have never paid so many taxes and social security contributions as a proportion of economic output as they have recently. The tax ratio calculated by the Ministry of Finance for 2021 was 42.4 % of gross domestic product. To date, little has probably changed in this regard. State revenues are flowing, while citizens and companies – with persistent inflation and soaring costs – have to see how they can make ends meet.

This does not mean that companies in the confectionery, bakery and snack industries must bury their heads in the sand, but accept the challenges and open up new customers and markets with innovative products. Trade fairs such as ProSweets Cologne and – after a six-year break – the interpack in Düsseldorf/Germany, which we are reporting on in detail in this issue, help in this respect.

The Scandinavian company Orkla is pleased about a particularly efficient packaging solution: With a new high-performance machine from Theegarten-Pactec, the company has been able to considerably increase the capacity for packaging its chocolate products.

In our “sp portrait” series, we are presenting the mechanical engineering company Netzsch. Its Grinding & Dispersing division is one of the world’s leading suppliers of grinding and mixing technology, which is used in the food industry, among others.

The “Ingredients” sector is also not neglected in this issue: An informative article by the company Döhler explains the trends and developments that can be observed in food ingredients.