China and the UK appear to have been fertile ground for food-industry M&A in recent months, according to an analysis of deal-making in the sector.

New figures released by GlobalData have shed light on the top locations for mergers and acquisitions in the food manufacturing industry.

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China has seen the largest uptick in recent months. Among a select list of major companies tracked by GlobalData, China has seen eight deals announced over the last two complete quarters, up from an average of just four deals every six months between 2019 and 2021.

In the first quarter of 2022 itself, the data shows M&A activity was strongest in the UK, where six deals were announced among the firms tracked. That was down slightly from the seven transactions announced in the final three months of 2021.

In the US, among the companies tracked, there were 19 M&A transactions unveiled in the last two complete quarters.

That's a decrease compared to the country’s average of 26 deals announced every six months between 2019 and 2021.

Globally, a total of 76 deals were announced in the last quarter, up from 73 deals in the previous quarter and from an average of 59 deals per quarter over the previous three years.

GlobalData's deals database

GlobalData tracks the performance and activities of more than 675,000 companies in over 200 countries around the world.

The data analytics firm's deals database includes the details of approximately one million deals, ranging from mergers and acquisitions to venture-capital financing, equity offerings and debt offerings.