Philippines

Packaged food recorded slightly faster value growth in 2019 versus 2018 as value sales in all categories – snacks, dairy, cooking ingredients and meals and staple foods – improved over the year. Packaged food was met with challenges in 2018, such as ...

In 2019, retail value growth of processed fruit and vegetables resumed its upward trajectory after the significant slump the category suffered in 2018, largely due to the contraction of the leading player, Del Monte Philippines. Retail volume sales ...

Volume growth of processed meat slowed down in 2019, as the category continues to feel the impact of the African Swine Fever (ASF), which struck in 2018. In order to protect the local hog industry against ASF, the Department of Agriculture in 2018 ...

Current value sales increased for breakfast cereals overall in 2019, and all categories except for “other” RTE cereals recorded marginally faster current value growth over the year. The overall category continues to benefit from the healthy living ...

Baked goods posted faster value growth in 2019 than it did in 2018, continuing the positive growth rate pattern seen throughout the 2014-2019 review period. Packaged leavened bread recorded the fastest value growth and is expected to do so over the ...

Rice is the staple in the Filipino diet. With the high inflation in 2018, the government implemented changes/new laws to make rice more affordable and accessible to consumers. For one thing, it made National Food Authority (NFA) rice available in ...

Edible oils saw a slight improvement in volume and value growth in 2019 versus 2018. Although there is sustained eating out, there is also a growing interest in cooking, especially since culinary schools or culinary courses are becoming popular in ...

Value growth of sauces, dressings and condiments improved in 2019 over the previous year, with table sauces, such as barbecue sauces and oyster sauces, and pasta sauces recording especially strong growth over the year. Barbecue sauces saw the highest...

In 2018, the inflation rate rose significantly in the Philippines, and in times of high inflation where a household budget can buy fewer goods, consumers are likely to forego purchasing discretionary items such as soup. As such, 2018 growth was ...

Sweet spreads as a whole posted slightly faster growth in 2019 than it did in 2018, as did all the categories present within it. The category is expected to continuously benefit from expansion, as it remains the second largest category within cooking...

Ready meals recorded faster value growth in 2019 versus 2018, as it addressed consumer demand for convenience and players in the major shelf-ready and frozen ready meals categories introduced more and also a greater variety of new products. ...

Despite impressive growth in transaction value terms, the number of charge cards in circulation continued to be low, with the category remaining a niche within financial cards in the Philippines in 2019. This is due to its exclusive target audience ...

Although remaining far below the number of debit and pre-paid cards in circulation in 2019, credit cards continued to record strong growth due to increasing demand, innovative initiatives of credit card players and increasing digitalisation which is ...

The number of debit cards in circulation was significantly higher compared to credit cards in the Philippines in 2019, due to standard bank practice to offer these types of cards to any savings or current account holders, automatically qualifying ...

Consumer payment transactions continued to be dominated by the use of cash in the Philippines in 2019 due to the high proportion of unbanked population, although the government is determined to double the banked population by 2023. However, financial...

Pre-paid cards is the most popular type of financial card in circulation in the Philippines and is generally perceived to be the most effective way of achieving financial inclusion amongst the country’s high proportion of unbanked population. Open ...

Store cards were not present in the Philippines at the end of the review period and are highly unlikely to enter the market, as retailers favour cobranded credit cards. Retailers prefer partnering credit card issuers as they have better card ...

Despite continuing to post double-digit current value growth in 2019, the rate of growth recorded by consumer credit gross lending slowed for the second consecutive year following hikes in the interest rate in 2018 due to high inflation and the ...

Despite recording double-digit current value growth in 2019, the rate of growth recorded by gross lending for overall consumer lending continued to slow. This followed a period of high inflation and costs of goods and services, which forced Bangko ...

Unlike soft drinks, where most categories have been affected by the sugar tax, malt-based drinks was the only hot drinks category to see the imposition of sugar tax in 2018. As the bulk of hot drinks packaging can be attributed to instant coffee ...