Growth in meals and soups spiked in 2020, when consumers were looking for easy meal solutions during the long periods they were spending at home due to the pandemic. Further healthy growth rates were also seen in 2021 and 2022, even as many consumers in the region were returning to the office. For some, the return to the office has been only partial, given the increase in hybrid working, while China was seeing ongoing lockdowns in the face of spiking new case numbers due to the Omicron variant.
This report comes in PPT.
Chilled ready meals, a favourite lunch for many office workers in Japan, recorded strong growth in 2022, with people returning to the office rather than working from home, as the authorities finally began lifting the COVID-19 restrictions. This was helping drive the overall regional market, given the size of Japanese chilled ready meals sales, but dried ready meals and quick recipe kits were also continuing to see dynamic growth, with consumers attracted by the convenience offered by these products.
Offering the ultimate in convenience, some shelf stable soups now come in self-heating packaging. Guangzhou Restaurant in China offers four kinds of canned soup where the consumer can simply twist the bottom of the packaging to activate the self-heating device, and the soup is heated and ready to eat within eight minutes.
Although e-commerce still only accounts for a very small share of sales in the region’s biggest market of Japan, elsewhere this channel accounts for almost a quarter of meals and soups sales. In China, for example, where the increasing penetration of hyper-local delivery is contributing to its growth, with hypermarkets and supermarkets cooperating with food delivery platforms such as Meituan.com and Ele.me in order to make up for losses through store-based sales during the pandemic.
Healthy growth rates are expected for meals and soups in Asia Pacific over the forecast period in real value terms, albeit gradually slowing year on year. While chilled ready meals will continue to dominate sales in Japan, frozen ready meals still lead in China. Among the most dynamic products will be quick recipe kits, with consumers without the skills or confidence to cook from scratch keen to try these products that help them to produce meals themselves.
If you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extraction Free!