Hot Right Now: Hippo Energy Drink, 2024 categories and trends to watch, OATSIDE growth plans and more social media trending news feature in our round-up

Bull fighters: How Thailand’s Hippo Energy Drink is taking on the big-name competition​

Thailand-based Hippo Energy Drink believes that its combination of health, natural ingredients and low sugar offerings can help it build on its initial success in South East Asia and take on major brand competitors in the category.

For many years now, the energy drink market regionally and globally has been mostly dominated by big brand names such as Red Bull and Monster. 

In recent years though the growth of the health and wellness trend within the food and beverage industry has motivated market players to look at healthier, better-for-you versions of energy drinks to differentiate from those high in sugar and caffeine content.

One of these newer players is Hippo Energy Drink, which has gained a strong consumer base in markets across Thailand and the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) markets within the ASEAN region.

Entering the limelight: Three emerging categories to watch for food industry growth in 2024​

As the Asia Pacific food and beverage steadily moves out of the shadow of the pandemic, geopolitical instability and inflationary pressures – we believe that these three emerging categories will come into their own in 2024.

Change drivers 2024: Five top trends set to shape the APAC food industry this year​

We take a closer look at five of the top trends that look set to shape the Asia Pacific food and beverage industry in 2024, from the newly-emerged ‘premium affordability’ to the evolution of plant-based protein, the rise of RTD beverages and more.

Cool move: Plant-based milk brand OATSIDE expands into ice cream to fuel regional growth​

Singapore-based OATSIDE has recently expanded its product line-up to include a range of ice creams as part of its growth strategy, on the back of burgeoning popularity of its oat milk products across Asia.

The venture into ice creams was a “natural progression”, said Gabriel Melo, Commercial Director at OATSIDE.

“​We believe in providing delicious options for people who don’t care for plant-based products. ​The three ice cream flavours — Chocolate, Coffee with Mini Chocolate Chips, and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough — are made using our oat milk as a base."​

Must all food innovation be high-tech? More ‘immediate’ changes needed beyond alternative proteins – expert panel​

The food and beverage sector will need to focus on making more ‘immediate’ changes beyond just creating a novel protein supply in order to address sustainability and overall supply chain challenges, according to industry experts.

This was the conclusion of an expert panel which convened at the recent Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit in Singapore, comprising of Aleph Farms Co-Founder and CEO Didier Toubia, Cargill Food Solutions for South-East Asia Francesca Kleemans, GROW CEO Joshua Soo and JAPFA CEO Tan Yong Nang.

In particular, Soo noted that in terms of food and agriculture innovation there are many untapped markets in South East Asia, but there exists a tendency to focus on solely high-tech solutions such as alternative proteins.