Hot Drinks in Middle East and Africa

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key findings

Nestlé continues to lead hot drinks

Nestlé remains the number one player in hot drinks in Middle East and Africa, thanks to its strong presence in both coffee and other hot drinks. While its Nescafé and Nesquik brands are well known in these categories, Milo leads in Nigeria, given the locals’ taste for malt-based hot drinks. Lipton Teas & Infusions is the leading player regionally in tea.

South Africa mulling warning labels for high-in-sugar products

With Saudi Arabia already having introduced a sugar tax, significantly impacting sales of some  products in flavoured powder drinks in the Kingdom, South Africa is looking at the introduction of mandatory front-of-pack warning labels for products high in sugar, salt or fat, which would be accompanied by a ban on marketing such products at children.

E-commerce share growing but still limited

Although e-commerce shares have been expanding in recent years, especially with the onset of the pandemic, they still remain quite small generally, with a regional high of 14% in Israel, but an overall regional value share of 2%. Modern grocery retailers tend to lead retail distribution in the Middle East states, while small local grocers generally hold sway in the African nations.

Coffee remains an important product for Ethiopia

As its largest export, coffee is an important product for Ethiopia, which has the region’s highest coffee sales, with it also being a popular drink domestically, and local products accounting for most domestic sales. Ethiopia’s premium beans tend to be kept for export, but domestic companies are also increasingly offering premium coffee for sale to local consumers.