Asian food makers expand functional offerings to bakery and savoury snacks

The bakery and cereals market is valued at US$2.4b.

The Asian food and drink manufacturers started to diversify functional offerings, tapping bakery and cereals as well as savoury snacks to fit customers’ demands, GlobalData said in a recent report.

The functional bakery and cereals market in Asia was worth US$2.4b, the analytics firm also said.

Tim Hill, key account director at GlobalData Singapore, said the demand for immunity-boosting dairy and soyfood products grew yearly by 20% in 2020.

“Similarly, vitamin drink brands, such as QminC and Carabao Group’s Woody C+, received a positive reception in Thailand in 2021,” said Hill.

Public demand for vitamins continues to grow with 72% of APAC respondents in GlobalData’s Q1 2023 survey saying vitamins A and C, are positive for their health, a moderate increase over the 70% of APAC respondents who opined similarly in the Q1 2022 survey.

Bobby Verghese, consumer analyst at GlobalData, said consumer preferences are changing because as the strict health rules wane, they prefer pre-pandemic lifestyles. 

“Asian food and beverage companies are exploring the market with various new functional offerings to tap this trend. Recent notable product innovations in this space include Wyeth Nutrition’s S-26 Gold Pro UHT milk launched in Thailand and PureMed’s Probiotic Mooncake launched in Malaysia,” said Verghese in the same report.