Food industry and location of industry

The food industry arose from processing crop and livestock products, and the nature of the raw material decides the location of its enterprises. If the raw material is perishable, produces much waste or cannot stand long transport (vegetables, fruit, meat, juices, canned goods, sugar), the plant is built where the raw material is grown. Flour mills process wheat; they exist in grain-growing areas and in big cities. Vegetable oil is mostly made from cottonseed separated at ginning plants, so oil enterprises are located near raw material and in densely populated areas. Modern refrigerated transport lets meat travel far, so meat combines work in big cities with high consumption (such as Tashkent, Andijan, Namangan and Fergana). Bread, pasta and confectionery plants are built in large settlements. Tea packing plants are in Samarkand and Tashkent, and mineral water plants in big cities. Today the food industry is closely linked with machine building, energy and chemicals: the share of machine and fuel costs in the cost of a product is growing. Location is determined by three things: consumers (number and location of people), the source of raw material, and the conditions of transporting the finished product. Because raw materials and consumption exist everywhere, the branch is spread everywhere.