The agribusiness and food industry has long been hailed for its defensive characteristics.  The thesis runs, that irrespective of economic circumstances people must eat and drink, affording the sector a degree of protection during economic showdowns. In normal circumstances businesses in the food sector should have less to fear from economic turmoil.  But these are not normal circumstances.

To understand how companies, anticipate the COVID-19 pandemic will play out and their expectations of the impacts on their businesses’ future prospects, our analysts surveyed recent trading updates and quarterly reports of some bellwether agri-food companies.