Cooking Ingredients and Meals: Half-Year Update H1 2024

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key findings

Edible oils lost ground in its second biggest market, China, post-pandemic

After benefitting greatly from stockpiling during the pandemic, forecast edible oils volume sales growth in China has seen a downward revision in the May update. This can be attributed to diminished home cooking (compared to the period when strict lockdown rules were in place) and issues in the global supply chain such as poor harvest and high production costs.

Uncertainties around olive oil continue; stocks are low, production costs are high, but improvements in olive yields are expected

Olive oil prices have soared globally on the back of the low production caused by rising temperatures in the largest producing countries, with Spain being at the forefront. Manufacturers are trying to find ways to tackle the price issue with new product development around blended formats where the quantity of the olive oil is kept low versus less expensive components such as sunflower oil.

Meal kits sees an upward revision in markets where there is room to grow from  relatively low bases

Although the fact that overall growth is expected to slow down due to the normalisation of consumer life post-pandemic is unchanged, meal kits remains one of the fastest-growing categories of the industry. This is especially true in markets where penetration is still at a low level, such as Spain; there, local brands were first introduced in 2019 while leading brand, HelloFresh, only entered in 2022.

Frozen pizza benefits from convenience and faces direct competition from foodservice

Frozen pizza is gaining ground in Asia Pacific, particularly China, stemming from the growing  popularity of Western food especially among the younger generation who increasingly seek convenience. On the other hand, there is intensifying competition from chained pizza limited-service restaurants in the country (for example Domino’s Pizza) as they have become more widespread across the country with new openings in 2024.