An initial 2-month nationwide lockdown announced from March 2020 by the government in an attempt to control the spread of COVID-19 in the Philippines resulted in early stockpiling tendencies amongst many local consumers who were concerned about essential staple foods being out of stock in grocery retailers. This trend is set to drive growth for a number of categories within packaged food in 2020 compared to 2019 due to the home seclusion trend (with many Filipinos working and studying from home) and a shift in channels away from foodservice as horeca outlets were only permitted to offer takeaway or delivery options and towards retail.
The emergence of COVID-19 in the Philippines forced the local government to initially introduce a nationwide lockdown between 12 March and 15 May, in an attempt to control the spread of the virus, although some provinces without COVID-19 cases were able to operate under differing local community quarantine regulations. The national regulations called for only one person being allowed to leave the home to buy food or medicines between 06.
Packaged food in the Philippines is a highly fragmented competitive landscape with Universal Robina Corp set to retain its slim overall lead in 2020 due to its strength in snacks where it offers a wide product portfolio under its umbrella brand Jack ‘n’ Jill. The increasing shift towards e-commerce during the pandemic encouraged the leader to open an official store on third party platform Lazada in 2020, while it also utilised a roving food truck called URCommunity Mart to sell its various brands, such as Payless, Magic Flakes and Cloud 9.
Modern grocery retailers, including supermarkets and hypermarkets, is set to increase its dominance of distribution in 2020, as an increasing number of consumers purchased larger pack sizes and bigger volumes, particularly during the initial lockdown due to stockpiling and concerns about frequently visiting public spaces with the virus in circulation. The smaller channel of convenience stores on the other hand, is set to record slower growth and loss of value share in 2020 as it has been unable to benefit from strategic locations which would normally enjoy high footfall as consumers reduced the frequency of their shopping trips.
Despite being permitted to offer takeaway and home delivery during the initial lockdown, foodservice sales for packaged food are set to experience significant declines during 2020, as horeca outlets were forced to close their dine-in options earlier in the year. Even as lockdown restrictions were relaxed, some businesses were unable to cope with the reduced footfall for several months resulting in permanent closure, while others continued to suffer from lower sales due to new policies imposed on foodservice to adhere to social distancing measures which reduced their overall seating capacity.
Packaged food is expected to continue to benefit from the home cooking trend and an aversion to dining out as frequently due to ongoing concerns about the threat level of the virus in circulation and price sensitivity, heading into 2021. Nevertheless, as Filipinos gradually return to their daily routines, they are expected to have less time to dedicate to preparing meals from scratch as they did during the lockdown, which is predicted to drive demand for greater convenience, whilst still adhering to emerging health and wellness trends.
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Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Packaged Food industry in Philippines with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
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In packaged food we consider two aspects of food sales: 1) Retail sales. 2) Foodservice. Retail sales is defined as sales through establishments primarily engaged in the sale of fresh, packaged and prepared foods for home preparation and consumption. This excludes hotels, restaurant, cafés, duty free sales and institutional sales (canteens, prisons/jails, hospitals, army, etc). Our retail definition EXCLUDES the purchase of food products from foodservice outlets for consumption off-premises, eg impulse confectionery bought from counters of cafés/bars. This falls under foodservice sales. For foodservice, we capture all sales to foodservice outlets, regardless of whether the products are eventually consumed on-premise or off-premise. Foodservice sales is defined as sales to consumer foodservice outlets that serve the general public in a non-captive environment. Outlets include cafés/bars, FSR (full-service restaurants), fast food, 100% home delivery/takeaway, self-service cafeterias and street stalls/kiosks. Sales to semicaptive foodservice outlets are also included. This describes outlets located in leisure, travel and retail environments. 1) Retail refers to units located in retail outlets such as department stores, shopping malls, shopping centres, super/hypermarkets etc. 2) Leisure refers to units located in leisure establishments such as museums, health clubs, cinemas, theatres, theme parks and sports stadiums. 3) Travel refers to units located in based in airports, rail stations, coach stations, motorway service stations offering gas facilities etc. Beyond the scope of the foodservice research are captive foodservice units that serve captive populations around institutions such as hospitals, schools, and prisons. This is also known as institutional sales.
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Packaged Food research and analysis database.
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