Asia Pacific

The increasing availability of plant-based instant hot drinks, such as coffee, is in line with wellness trends as local consumers perceive plant-based substitutes to be better for the body compared to regular dairy. The dairy element in instant hot…

With the prolonged impact of the pandemic, health continues to be top-of-mind for many Japanese consumers. More people are turning towards beverages that offer fortification or functionality, as these are increasingly seen as options that can help to…

Public education campaigns and information obtained from social media are making people in Indonesia – particularly middle- and higher-income consumers – more aware of the many health risks associated with being overweight or obese. Despite this,…

The Indian Government is confronting the grave danger that malnourishment poses to the population. In 2018, it launched POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan to address the issue. The target demographics for the…

The pandemic resulted in heightened health and wellness awareness among local consumers, which has led to them reducing their intake of certain ingredients detrimental to their health, such as sugar, fat and salt. This trend continued to drive demand…

In 2022, there was a noticeable increase in consumer interest in fortified/functional hot drinks, due to the significant health and wellness benefits they offer. These hot drinks provide a convenient way for individuals to incorporate beneficial…

With the increasing prioritisation of health and a growing scarcity of time, consumers are actively seeking faster and more efficient ways to safeguard their wellbeing. As a result, drinking milk products with fortified/functional attributes have…

The increasingly sophisticated character of consumer demand for dairy products continued to be driven by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2022, despite the fact that related restrictions were lifted in October of that year. Before…

Dairy products are already known to be nutritious, as a natural source of calcium and protein, and also probiotics for yoghurt; however, innovation has continued to increase the health and wellness options available, in line with heightened interest…

Singapore’s Ministry of Health implemented a Nutri-grade labelling system on 30 December 2022. The regulation affects all pre-packaged beverages and beverages from automated dispensers sold in Singapore. Under the scheme, Nutri-Grade beverages with a…

Facing a continuous decline in the birth rate, and consequently the population, growth in health and wellness dairy products and alternatives has been hampered. However, as consumers’ health consciousness and interest in nutrition was growing even…

Plant-based dairy products and alternatives have become increasingly popular in Indonesia in recent years as rising health-consciousness and concerns about environmental sustainability and animal welfare issues have led more people to embrace vegan,…

Nestlé was the dominant player in baby food in 2022, with the company synonymous with trust and assurance of quality. Baby food, including milk formula, is considered essential for the holistic development of babies and young children, both…

Hong Kong started 2022 with the fifth wave of COVID-19, with over 1.2 million citizens testing positive during the first quarter of the year. The outbreak dramatically intensified consumers’ concerns regarding their health and wellness, particularly…

Protein has been regarded as important nutrition for boosting immunity since the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020. This has led to the boom of high protein claims in dairy products and alternatives, and has been driving new product developments with a…

Health-conscious consumers in Thailand are increasingly opting for plant-based cooking ingredients and meals, further driving the shift towards plant-based diets. Plant-based ready meals is an emerging niche in Thailand but perceived as a lighter and…

Despite Taiwan aiming to live with COVID-19 and return to normal lifestyles, confirmed COVID-19 case numbers spiked in 2022 with more than 10,000 cases per day. In line with heightened health consciousness, which has been bolstered by the experiences…

Although products low in sugar are becoming more noticeable in cooking ingredients and meals, product innovation has so far been less proactive than in other packaged food categories, and consumers’ attention has not yet been captured. However, South…

Increased adoption of home cooking and heightened health-consciousness among local consumers since the pandemic have led to growing interest in greater product variety and nutritional options available in retail channels for cooking ingredients and…

Japanese consumers have relatively high interest in functional products, and generally trust the claims on the packaging and in marketing activities. With the aim of assisting consumers to make more informed choices, a system of Foods with Function…

Volume sales of products with health and wellness claims increased at impressive rates across cooking ingredients and meals in Indonesia in 2022. Overall demand continued to be buoyed by rising health awareness among consumers, a well-established…

In recent years there was a rise of adulteration practices, in terms of replacing mustard oil with poor-quality oils in multi-source edible oils, with the intent to reduce costs. It was relatively easy to mix lower-quality oils, as they would not…

Local consumers have been paying greater attention to their diets as well as their gut health since the pandemic. As such, when consumers in Hong Kong choose cooking ingredients and meals, the natural claim is one of their main concerns. It is…

In recent years, there has been a notable surge in health-consciousness amongst Chinese consumers. This positive trend can be attributed, in part, to a concerted effort by the government through its "Three Reduce" campaign, which aims to curtail the…

Flexible aluminium/plastic and folding cartons are the main packaging types used for hot drinks in Vietnam due to a number of factors. These packaging types offer convenience and are widely available through retail channels. Their lightweight design…

Instant coffee is the biggest category in the country’s hot drinks industry as the Philippines has a long history of coffee production and it is the culturally preferred drink of the masses. Flexible aluminium/plastic is the cheapest option for the…

Flexible aluminium/plastic is the main type of packaging used in hot drinks in Thailand due to its wide availability, cost-effectiveness and excellent barrier properties. It is readily available in Thailand, with a well-established supply chain, and…

While instant coffee continued to decline, the desire for better-quality coffee is helping to continue to drive sales of fresh ground coffee pods, which are therefore becoming an increasing area of focus for coffee companies. Even after coffee pods…

Among the pack types used for coffee in Singapore are glass jars, folding cartons, flexible aluminium/plastic, flexible plastic and various metal containers. While flexible aluminium/plastic is, by some way, the most widely used in packaging unit…

In 2023, Starbucks launched its instant coffee mixes, such as the Starbucks VIA Spring Blend, featuring small portions packaged in flexible paper pouches and flexible paper sachets of 12 sticks in a multipack. This move towards smaller portions and…

Even though fresh ground coffee has been recording declining sales in the last two years, folding cartons have been growing in popularity as a pack type in this category, registering increasing packaging unit volumes and gaining share. Folding…

Flexible packaging continues to dominate the packaging unit volumes used in hot drinks in Indonesia, which is expected to remain the case over the forecast period. Flexible aluminium/plastic is the main pack type, followed by flexible plastic. Both…

Flexible aluminium/plastic remains the most widely used pack type in hot drinks in India, mainly because of Its role in the packaging of tea, which dominates volume sales in hot drinks. Flexible aluminium/plastic has superior barrier properties that…

Glass jars, which are mainly used in instant coffee, continued to be the main pack type in the Hong Kong hot drinks market in 2023. They were also recording increasing packaging unit volumes in 2023, as were other widely used pack types, such as…

Flexible packaging, mainly in the shape of flexible aluminium/plastic and flexible plastic, remained the dominant pack type in hot drinks packaging in China in 2023 and is expected to maintain this position over the forecast period. This pack type…

Vietnam is predicted to see GDP growth of 4.5% by the end of 2023, compared to the initial forecast of 6.5% at the beginning of the year, as per the General Statistical Office study. Soft labour markets and concerns about an impending global…

The landscape of hot drinks in Uzbekistan in 2023 is primarily shaped by the enduring popularity of tea, particularly green tea. Green tea, holding a significant market share in both volume and value terms, continues to exhibit a positive trend,…

Despite persisting inflationary pressures, volume sales of hot drinks in the Philippines recorded healthy growth in both retail and foodservice channels in 2023, with improving economic conditions and the greater mobility of Filipino consumers…

Sales of hot drinks in Taiwan saw healthy growth in volume terms in 2023, continuing the trend of the previous year. On-trade sales fell in 2020 and 2021, as measures put in place to contain the COVID-19 virus deprived many Thai professionals of…

Hot drinks in Taiwan performed positively in 2023, with growth in total volume sales slightly surpassing that recorded in 2022. This improvement was mainly due to an uptick in on-trade consumption as diminishing public fear of COVID-19 and the ending…

With a lack of foreign reserves in the country due to the current economic crisis, the government of Sri Lanka had to impose import restrictions which limited the availability of some hot drinks. Inflation also remained in double figures which put…

Hot drinks is set to see decline in retail volume terms and a stagnant performance in retail current value terms in 2023. Tea is set to see the best performance, maintaining current value growth, while coffee is set to see stagnancy due to the…

Retail value sales of hot drinks in Singapore continue to grow in 2023, while retail volume sales are stagnating. Coffee is the strongest performer in retail value growth terms, while demand through retail is flat (albeit above pre-pandemic levels)…

Hot drinks registered health value growth in 2023, as well as moderate volume growth, which was supported by continuing population growth. That being said, Pakistan’s economy continued to struggle and the government secured a further USD3 billion…

Sales of hot drinks registered marginal growth in 2023. Coffee, the largest category, and other hot drinks recorded growth, while retail volume sales of tea declined. A developing coffee culture supported rising demand for fresh coffee, with tea…

Global price hikes for raw materials like sugar and cocoa drove up unit selling prices in hot drinks in Malaysia in 2023, especially within coffee and other hot drinks. The hoarding and shortage of cocoa in west Africa force leading players like…

Hopes for a quick economic recovery from the pandemic have been overshadowed by internal and external factors that threaten household living standards in Laos. Depreciation and (largely as a result) high inflation have led to rising prices,…

The performance of hot drinks in Kazakhstan continues to be determined by the most popular hot drink, tea. Loose black tea, which holds the largest market share in both volume and value terms, continued to see stable volume sales in 2023; however,…

In 2023, hot drinks is set to record opposite performances in the foodservice channel and the retail channel. On 8 May 2023, the Japanese government downgraded the legal status of COVID-19 to Class 5, the level of common infectious disease. This was…

Retail volume sales of hot drinks in Indonesia saw healthy growth in 2023, in contrast to the decline seen in the previous year. This was attributable to a gradual improvement in consumer purchasing power, thanks to better economic conditions,…