Cooking Ingredients and Meals

Olive oil is seeing a return to popularity, with a rebound in robust retail volume growth, thanks to ongoing health and wellness trends and the fact olive oil is perceived to be a healthy product. The increasing popularity of Western cuisines, which…

Cooking ingredients and meals is showing an overall positive performance in 2023, in both value and volume terms, and in both retail and foodservice. Whilst consumers remain somewhat price-sensitive and continue to seek value for money, we are also…

Amid the constraints imposed by the impacts of the pandemic, rising inflation, the devaluation of the Brazilian real against the US dollar, and successive restrictions in various global supply chains, players have had to concentrate their efforts on…

Despite the easing of the consumer price index throughout 2022, Brazilian consumers continued to pay high prices for food items. Like other categories, sauces, dips and condiments has experienced a period of widespread price increases that persists…

Economic uncertainty in 2022 impacted access not only to high-value products in Brazil but also to basic items for various consumer groups in the country. The inflationary process triggered by macroeconomic policies, combined with external shocks to…

The recent trajectory of edible oils in Brazil brings with it dynamics influenced by both the consumption of a product predominantly manufactured abroad, such as olive oil, and by its commodity-like characteristics, as seen in soy oil. The average…

Retail demand for cooking ingredients and meals experienced a slowdown in 2022 during a period of high inflation. Throughout the year, the intensification of a phenomenon locally known as the “hourglass” effect was evident. It divided consumers into…

Sweet spreads is set to see slight growth in retail current value terms in Japan in 2023. However, this growth is mainly due to price increases for sweet spreads, and retail volume sales are expected to see another year of decline, primarily due to…

In 2023, sauces, dips and condiments in Japan is set to continue to see a backlash from the rapid retail volume growth recorded in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the expectation of another year of notable decline. In retail current value…

In May 2023, COVID-19 was reclassified as a class 5 infectious disease, which is the same level as influenza. The restrictions on group activities that had been in place since the first pandemic in February 2020 were therefore finally relaxed in…

Edible oils in Japan is set to see declines in both retail current value and volume terms in 2023, mainly due to a sharp increase in unit prices. The unit prices of various edible oils in Japan have been increasing rapidly, and overall edible oils is…

In May 2023, COVID-19 was reclassified as a class 5 infectious disease, which is the same level as influenza. Therefore, the restrictions on group activities that had been in place for a long time, since the first emergence of the pandemic in…

In 2023, cooking ingredients and meals has fully recovered from the destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. However, the industry now faces a new set of challenges. The international global fuel hikes and shortages have resulted…

With Sri Lanka facing its worst economic crisis in 74 years, product shortages and price hikes have recalibrated consumer demand and supply patterns across all categories of cooking ingredients and meals. Manufacturers are struggling due to the…

Retail volume sales of cooking ingredients and meals stabilised in 2023 due to recovery of foodservice, which had declined as a result of the pandemic and the post-coup economic downturn. However, total volume sales declined as prices rose due to…

Population growth and lower inflation supported rising demand across meals and soups in 2023. In the key category of edible oils, the availability of sunflower oil via the PDS put pressure on demand, while table sauces benefited from the broadening…

Price remains a pivotal factor during 2023 and continues to shape consumer choices. Consumers persist in making decisions, leaning towards more economical and affordable brands. Edible oils remain central to cooking, but retail sales dipped due to…

Edible oils continue to dominate cooking ingredients and meals. Demand is gradually shifting from palm oil to sunflower oil, as the latter is regarded as healthier by a growing number of local consumers. Meanwhile, stock cubes and powders and…

Unilever is the second largest cooking ingredients and meals company in the world. The company has benefited from more cooking at home since the pandemic which has benefited brands such as Knorr and Hellmann’s. With a strong presence in emerging…

The COVID-19 pandemic has more or less come to an end in 2023, however, the country and economy faces a new set of challenges due to the international fuel hikes and inflation. As a result, most categories within cooking ingredients and meals have…