Convenience foods and snacks

Pakistan’s sugar wars: Punjab proposes 10000% penalty increase for illegal sugarcane dealings as tensions rise

19-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

The government of Pakistan’s most-populated province, Punjab, is trying to halt the ongoing ‘sugar wars’ in the country between sugarcane millers and growers by raising the maximum penalty for illegal dealings by 10,000%.

King of imports: China’s durian market continues to be top target for exporting countries

18-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

China’s appetite for durians has been on the rise over the past few years, and its status as the top export destination for major durian-producing countries worldwide such as Malaysia and Thailand does not look likely to significantly waiver any time...

PepsiCo’s Asian NPD: MNC highlights key trends it is applying to develop emerging markets

18-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

PepsiCo has identified several key consumer trends in Asia which it is applying to develop its major emerging markets in the region.

FNA Deep Dive 2: Chocolate

Sweet prospects: How sustainability commitments and taste innovation will supercharge chocolate success in APAC

14-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

APAC’s chocolate market is forecast to achieve solid growth in the first half of this decade, with sustainability commitments, bean-to-bar production and taste innovation set to propel the sector, as we reveal in detail in our latest FNA Deep Dive multimedia...

Brand New: Mondelez, Coca-Cola, Asahi and more feature in our round-up

13-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

Mondelez, Coca-Cola, Asahi and more feature in this edition of Brand New.

Pink power: Japanese firms loving ruby chocolate ahead of Valentine’s Day

12-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

The popularity of ruby chocolate is skyrocketing amongst local and international confectionery and bakery companies alike in Japan, with a further boom expected ahead of Valentine’s Day .

Bubble burst? Researchers question long-term health and environmental effects of plant-based diet

12-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

Plant-based products have recently come under fire for potential negative health and environmental effects, but much of this has so far gone more or less unnoticed and/or unmentioned by its proponents, it has been claimed.

JD reports surge in fresh food orders in China during Chinese New Year and coronavirus outbreak

12-Feb-2020 By Guan Yu Lim

China e-commerce giants JD say they have seen sales of fresh foods, especially vegetables, increase both online and offline during the Chinese New Year period and during the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.

Snacking for kids: H&H’s Good Gout to expand China product offering and distribution channels

10-Feb-2020 By Guan Yu Lim

Health & Happiness (H&H) Group’s Good Gout is focusing on its China expansion this year, with new product launches and more offline distribution channels in the pipeline for the firm which specialises in organic snacks for children.

FNA F&B Trailblazers Podcast Episode 4

PODCAST: AI Palette’s Som Ganchoudhuri on transition from MNC to AI start-up

07-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

In this episode of our Food and Beverage Trailblazers podcast, we speak to the CEO and Co-founder of Singapore-based artificial intelligence company AI Palette Somsubhra Ganchoudhuri (Som) about using AI for food product innovation, and making the switch...

Nissin Foods Group reduces sodium levels in instant cup noodles and launches smart salt intake indicator

06-Feb-2020 By Guan Yu Lim

Nissin Food Products (subsidiary of Nissin Foods Group) is reformulating its instant noodles to reduce salt intake for the rising number of Japanese consumers with hypertension.

Five top trends set to shape Asia’s grocery retail sector in 2020

06-Feb-2020 By Gary Scattergood

From state-of the-art shopper-focused store formats, to the soaring scope of social commerce, here are five trends that are set to shape the region’s grocery retail sector this year…with market-leading examples from Aeon, Lotte, FamilyMart, Alibaba and...

Sabah’s top beans: Malaysian cocoa specialist Vive Snack banks on local focus for success

05-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

Malaysian cocoa firm Vive Snack is banking on a strong local focus to further expand its reach in the domestic market, with an emphasis on its use of local ingredients and new product innovations.

Growth and technology: Food companies singled out as significant force in generating halal industry development

05-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

Food and beverage companies have been singled out as a significant force to ‘generate substantial growth’ for the halal industry, especially in Asia and the Middle East, by creating dedicated halal propositions in developing their businesses.

Palm oil dilemma: Why Malaysia’s second-largest commodity export continues to face uncertain future

05-Feb-2020 By Pearly Neo

Malaysia is the second-largest palm oil producer in the world and the commodity is also the country’s second-largest export in terms of value - but the local palm oil industry as a whole faces an uncertain future due to volatile prices and continuing...