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Category: Food

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Food and Food & Beverage news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Tyson Foods to launch plant-based foods in Australia

    Tyson Foods to launch plant-based foods in Australia

    Tyson Foods, the largest meat processor in the US, says it plans to launch plant-based products in Asia Pacific, including Australia.

    A range of three products will go on sale in Malaysia imminently under the First Pride brand – frozen Bites, Nuggets and Strips made with regionally sourced ingredients including bamboo fibre, soy protein and wheat protein. They will be halal certified.

    Tyson Foods said in a statement it would expand the range into other selected markets across the Apac region through retailers and online during the coming months.

    This is the first time the company has introduced plant-based products in Asia-Pacific. The company will go head to head against Impossible Foods, Nestle and Beyond Meat, along with  Omni-branded products from Hong Kong-based plant-based startup Green Monday.

    Demand for plant-based foods is surging across Asia Pacific, with manufacturers seeing a leap in sales during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Data from Euromonitor cited by Tyson Foods predicts alternative proteins could account for 11 percent of the global protein market by 2035. APAC retail sales of meat substitutes reached US$16.3 billion last year and are expected to exceed $20 billion by 2025.

    Tan Sun, president at Tyson Foods APAC, said the company was targeting consumers embracing flexitarian diets.

    “Our plant-based launch will complement our existing assets across Thailand, Malaysia and Australia where we offer a range of products from poultry to beef.”

    He said the Asian market is a natural fit for this category with traditional plant-based products like tofu already entrenched in the culture. “The key to meeting consumer preferences with new plant-based protein is through innovation and making locally relevant products that taste great, which is our expertise,” he said.

    “Our new product expansion delivers on taste and quality, giving consumers a modern take on familiar tastes, local flavors and texture.”

    Tyson Foods says the flavors of products and package sizes will vary from country to country but would be “priced competitively”. The initial range sold in Malaysia will be sold in 420g bags priced at RM19.90 (US$4.81). They will be launched initially in retail stores, but a foodservice range will be developed later in the year.

    David Ervin, VP of alternative protein at Tyson Foods said the company’s global culinary network and scalability positions it well to replicate the success it has had in the US with plant-based foods in Asia Pacific.

  • Beef prices rise as global supply gets ‘very tight’

    Beef prices rise as global supply gets ‘very tight’

    Beef prices are reaching record levels in some international markets with localized disruptions – including droughts and increased consumer demand in some countries – exerting a “dramatic impact” on global trade, according to Rabobank.

    In its Q2 Beef Quarterly research, the bank says a fundamental shift is underway in international beef market dynamics creating a “very tight” global market for beef cattle.

    The report’s co-author, Rabobank senior animal proteins analyst Angus Gidley-Baird, says local factors include the post-drought herd rebuilding in Australia which has reduced the number available for slaughter, and soaring demand in the US as restaurants reopen after Covid-related trading restrictions. Meanwhile, Chinese consumers are eating more beef.

    “Given the growth in demand (for beef) and global trade, pressures created in the system now mean that what may once have been considered slightly abnormal seasonal conditions (for example) are now causing major shifts to markets,” the report says.

    In the US, wholesales prices in April were running 18.5 percent higher than those of April 2019 and retail prices were up by 11.5 percent.

    “This is the result of a number of factors, including renewed competition between foodservice and retail triggered by the reopening US economy, combined with grilling season, high consumer incomes, and strong exports,” he said.

    In Australia, successive years of drought have forced farmers to liquidate stock resulting in the country’s smallest beef cattle herd in 30 years. East Coast cattle slaughter was down 30 percent in April, for example. These factors underpinned a 30-per-cent year-on-year surge in young cattle prices in February last year and a further 20 percent last February.

    But it is not all bad news for local farmers, said Gidley-Baird.

    “While lower volumes and higher prices make competing in the global market more difficult, the tight market situation is working in Australia’s favor and creating less resistance to our high prices,” he said.

    “We believe that current cattle prices in Australia will ease as cattle numbers increase and producer demand dissipates. However, as the supply chain overcomes the disruption here and consumers adjust their price expectations, we believe the market will adjust and a new baseline will be established.”

    In China, efforts to increase local beef production are failing to match increasing demand from consumers, forcing the country to rely on imported beef which is in short supply and commanding a higher price. Many Chinese consumers have switched from pork to beef after an outbreak of African swine fever.

    “While part of the beef consumed as a substitute for pork and will shift back when pork production recovers, we expect strong Chinese beef demand to remain as new markets have been established,” said Gidley-Baird.  “This will continue to drive Chinese beef imports from the global market.”

    Australia’s beef exports were down 22 percent in April and are running 11 percent below the five-year average. China accounted for just 17 percent of that, down from 24 percent in 2019.

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  • David Jones Food review leads to end of BP partnership

    David Jones Food review leads to end of BP partnership

    Following a review of David Jones’ food business, which was signaled by chief executive Scott Fyfe in March, the department store’s partnership with convenience chain BP is ending.

    The 35 dual-branded sites built over the past year will be transitioned in the coming months as DJs continues to streamline its Food business.

    “Our organizations have collectively agreed to work through a managed transition that will see our relationship end in the coming months,” a BP spokesperson said.

    “We know the needs of consumers are changing and we are excited by the growth opportunity this presents for BP in Australia.

    “A differentiated offer which is delivered well clearly resonates with our consumers, who lead busy lives and want easy access to healthy and delicious food.”

    David Jones, on the other hand, will refocus its food efforts toward bespoke Food Halls in its Elizabeth Street and Bondi Junction locations, as well as its pantry and seasonal ranges.

    “We thank BP for its strong collaboration throughout the partnership and wish the business all the best in the next phase of its development,” a David Jones spokesperson said.

    “David Jones remains committed to delivering an exceptional food range reflective of our customers’ needs and preferences while reducing cost and enhancing overall business performance.”

    The issue seems to have stemmed from David Jones’ failure to make a profit from its Food ventures, with parent company Woolworths Holdings group chief executive Roy Bagattini stating the business has “not transitioned fast enough“ during an analyst call last September.

    And, that while the David Jones Food convenience locations were progressing well, the larger format David Jones Food business trades at a loss.

    At a minimum, Bagattini said he hoped a review would get the food business to a break-even position by the 2022 financial year.

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  • Pringles launches Veggie Creations snack range

    Pringles launches Veggie Creations snack range

    Pringles has launched “Veggie Creations,” a new range of vegetable and spice-inspired potato chips.

    Available in three flavors, the brand new range is said to offer “a multi-sensory snacking experience” with a colorful combination of assorted flavors.

    The three Veggie Creations flavors are Potato, Orange Sweet Potato, Paprika & Garlic; Potato & Tomato, with Mozzarella & Herbs; and Potato, Purple Sweet Potato & Sea Salt.

    Pringles Veggie Creations are available at Coles supermarkets beginning June and available nationwide in all supermarkets from August.

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  • Vietnam might lose entry to global rice contest

    Vietnam might lose entry to global rice contest

    Vietnam might lose its right to enter the World’s Best Rice Contest because of the large number of unauthorized companies selling the ST25 variety on the market.

    U.S.-based The Rice Trader, organizer of the annual contest that started in 2009, said only the ST25 rice variants produced by the company of Ho Quang Tri, the son of the main developer of the rice, Ho Quang Cua, is allowed to use the “World’s Best Rice” title in promoting this product.

    However, many Vietnamese companies have been printing this title on their product packages without permission from The Rice Trader, which is a copyright infringement, it said in a statement.

    Should these actions persist, the organization will release the names of the infringers and take away Vietnam’s rights to participate in the contest in upcoming years, it warned.

    The ST25 variety from Vietnam won the World’s Best Rice Contest in 2019 and secured second place last year, losing first place to a jasmine fragrance variety from Thailand.

    The ST25 variety is the result of 25 years of work by Cua and his colleagues who cross-bred the premium fragrant rice, described as having a sweet taste and a hint of pineapple flavor, in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang.

    Other countries that have won the contest in previous years include Thailand, the U.S., and Cambodia.

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  • Vietnamese consume more meat, beer despite falling incomes

    Vietnamese consume more meat, beer despite falling incomes

    Although incomes have fallen because of the pandemic, a survey has found living standard improvements with Vietnamese people consuming less rice but more beer and meat.

    The GSO estimates per capita monthly income fell 2 percent from the previous year to VND4.2 million ($182), because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the 2020 living standards survey conducted among 47,000 households nationwide by the General Statistic Office (GSO).

    The survey found that per capita monthly rice consumption declined from 9.7 kilograms in 2010 to 7.6 kilograms last year.

    On the other hand, per capita meat consumption rose from 1.8 kilograms per month in 2010 to 2.3 kilograms last year. Per capita beer and alcohol consumption reached 1.3 liters per month last year from 0.9 liters in 2018.

    The GSO reported that there were significant wealth discrepancies between urban and rural areas. The per capita monthly income in urban areas last year was VND5.5 million, 1.6 times higher than that in rural areas.

    A HCMC-based economist said that farmers should reduce rice farming and shift to produce with higher returns in order to increase per capita income in rural areas.

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  • Vietnam exports 20 tons of lychees to Japan

    Vietnam exports 20 tons of lychees to Japan

    Twenty tons of lychees from the first batch of the 2021 season harvested in the northern province of Bac Giang have been shipped to Japan.

    This is the second year that the fruit has been exported to far east economic giant from Bac Giang, the premier lychee growing province in the country.

    The lychees were grown in the province’s Tan Yen District and shipped by the Global Export and Import Foodstuff JSC and Chanh Thu Export and Import Fruit Company.

    The two companies said that they would export more Bac Giang lychees to Japan by air and sea this year.

    Tan Yen District cultivates lychees on 1,300 hectares and expects to harvest 14,000 tons of the fruit this year. Its early harvest season will last until mid-June.

    Nguyen Viet Toan, chairman of the district People’s Committee, said they have quarantined everyone who’s come into contact with Covid-19 patients, set up checkpoints on roads leading to lychee cultivation areas, and are checking the health of every visitor to ensure the orchards are unaffected by the pandemic.

    Under regulations set by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japanese experts have to directly supervise phytosanitary certification of exported produce in Vietnam. However, during the pandemic, Japan has authorized Vietnam’s Plant Protection Department to do it because Japanese experts cannot come to the country now.

    Bac Giang has so far harvested 2,000 tons of lychees in the early harvest season, half of which has been exported. China is the largest buyer of lychees from Vietnam.

    Vietnam aims to export 20,000 tons of lychees this year to China, Japan, Australia, the E.U., and the U.S.

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  • McDonald’s Japan brings back Speedee

    McDonald’s Japan brings back Speedee

    Going retro, McDonald’s Japan is bringing back the fast-food chain’s first mascot Speedee on a range of vintage packaging.

    Part of its 50th-anniversary celebrations, the return honors the opening of the nation’s first McDonald’s located on the first floor of the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo back in July 1971. Long before the introduction of Ronald McDonald in 1967, Speedee was used by original founders Richard and Maurice McDonald at their burger restaurant in California in 1940.

    Speedee, inspired by Richard and Maurice McDonald’s innovative “Speedee Service System,” will appear on a selection of packaging at McDonald’s locations throughout Japan. Available for a limited time only are retro designs for Chicken McNuggets, fries, hashbrowns, apple pie, cold drinks and takeout paper bags

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  • Sydney startup wins seed funding to expand ‘bagged’ cocktail range

    Sydney startup wins seed funding to expand ‘bagged’ cocktail range

    Ready-to-drink cocktail startup Sophisticated Cocktail Co has successfully completed another seed funding round.

    According to the company, the funds will be used to drive a greater retail presence nationwide and in three international markets by the end of this year.

    The startup has also recorded strong growth in its first six months via its online e-commerce platform as well as a number of independent liquor stores across NSW, the company reports.

    Launched late last year, the cocktails are packaged in sustainable stand-up pouches with a range of premium Cosmopolitans, Margaritas, Espresso Martinis, and Pina Coladas.

    Online alcohol sales spiked last year, and with an increase in people who prefer to drink their cocktails at home, founder and CEO of Sophisticated Cocktail Co, Vicky Lyon, said she identified a gap in the market for large-scale premium batched cocktails that could be served anytime and anywhere.

    “Everyone loves a cocktail, but not everyone has the know-how or means to make one,” said Lyon.

    “We have noticed that our customers tend to serve our cocktails at events such as dinner parties, picnics, boats, camping, or on weekend trips away. At $7.50 

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  • Greater China drives profit growth for Fonterra

    Greater China drives profit growth for Fonterra

    Dairy giant Fonterra says a 61-per-cent boost in normalized profit for the nine months to April shows its restructuring program is paying dividends.

    The New Zealand-headquartered company recorded a net profit after tax of NZ$603 million, up 2 percent – or $587 million ‘normalized’ after extraordinary items were factored in.

    CEO Miles Hurrell said the company achieved higher margins and reduced its operating expenditure, despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, which remains very much part of life for the co-op’s employees and customers around the world.

    “It’s too easy to forget this if you’re sitting here in New Zealand – but today’s results show that despite these challenges we’ve lifted our financial performance. Over the last three months, we have also committed to getting out of coal by 2037 and made some promising progress in a trial using seaweed in cows’ feed to reduce emissions,” said Hurrell.

    Fonterra’s results illustrate the importance of Greater China to the company’s overall fortunes, delivering year-to-date EBIT up 30 percent year on year to $106 million.

    Foodservice continued to be the big driver behind the result, contributing $93 million of that growth. The year-to-date margin in China increased from 21.5 percent to 28.6 percent.

    In Asia Pacific, normalized EBIT of $224 million was down 10 percent, or by $24 million. Consumer sales improved by 29 percent and foodservice by 89 percent, offset by falling sales in the ingredients segment.

    And Africa, Middle East, and North America sector saw EBIT fall by 11 percent, or $40 million, to $322 million, largely due to lower Ingredients sales. Consumer and food service sales in those regions continued to perform well.

    Hurrell said Fonterra’s operating expenses were down by 5 percent year-to-date but the company will incur some additional expenditure in the final quarter to support its brands and product initiatives for the next year.

    Looking ahead, Hurrell says the improving global economic environment and strong demand for dairy – relative to supply – should lead to an increase in the Farmgate Milk Price range to its $8 projected midpoint.

    “Global demand for dairy, especially New Zealand dairy, is continuing to grow. China is leading the charge as its economy continues to recover strongly. Prompted by Covid-19, people are seeking the health benefits of milk and customers are wanting to secure their supply of New Zealand dairy products and ingredients,” he said.

    “Growth in global milk supply seems muted and the global supply of whole milk powder is looking constrained.

    “Based on these supply and demand dynamics, along with where the New Zealand dollar is sitting relative to the US dollar, we’re expecting whole milk prices to remain at current levels for the near future.”

    However, Hurrell flagged “a number of risks” including the unpredictable nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, the impacts of governments winding back their economic stimulus packages, foreign-exchange volatility, changes in the supply and demand patterns that can enter dairy markets when prices are high, and – as always – potential impacts of any geopolitical issues around the world.

  • Auchan to leave Taiwan business

    Auchan to leave Taiwan business

    Auchan Retail is considering selling its stake in a group of RT-Mart-branded stores in Taiwan and is seeking $300 million to $400 million, people familiar with the matter said.

    The French supermarket chain is working with an adviser to find a buyer for its 65% stake in the retail locations, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is confidential. The sale kicked off last week, they said.

    Deliberations are at an early stage and Auchan could decide to keep the interest, the people said. A representative for Auchan declined to comment.

    The potential sale would complete Auchan’s exit from Asia, after selling its stake in Sun Art Retail Group Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in October in a deal worth about $3.6 billion. Sun Art operates so-called hypermarkets, large retail outlets that combine a department store and a supermarket, and convenience stores in China under the RT-Mart and Auchan brands.

    Auchan owns 20 hypermarkets and two convenience stores in Taiwan, according to the 2020 annual report of Elo, formerly known as Auchan Holding. Auchan opened its first Taiwan store in 1997 and has 5,500 employees in its Auchan Retail Taiwan unit, which runs the RT-Mart-branded stores, its website shows.

    U.S. actor and former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. champion John Cena apologized for describing Taiwan as a country in a promotional video for his latest movie, saying sorry in Mandarin after the comments triggered a backlash in China.

    Cena made the apology in a clip posted Tuesday on his official Weibo account, a Chinese social media platform like Twitter. He had earlier this month indicated that Taiwan was a country in a video promoting his film “Fast & Furious 9,” according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.

    “I made a mistake. I must say now that, very very very importantly, I love and respect China and Chinese people,” Cena said in Chinese in the video, without elaborating further.

    The apology video triggered further anger on Chinese social media, where users denounced Cena for not stating that Taiwan was part of China. Beijing argues that democratically run Taiwan is part of its territory, and has in recent years increased diplomatic pressure on the Taipei government and other nations that recognize its legitimacy.

    The apology also drew flak in the U.S., where critics — including Republicans and conservative media — slammed the star for bowing to China. Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, described the move as “pathetic.”

    Cena is the latest high-profile westerner to come under fire for publicly crossing China’s political lines, amid a boycott of some U.S. and Europe-based brands that had taken a stand against the treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in China’s far west Xinjiang region.

    Hennes & Mauritz AB faced ire in recent months after a statement it made expressing concern over reports of forced labor in Xinjiang resurfaced. Its Chinese outlets disappeared from Apple and Baidu Maps searches, and some stores in smaller cities were closed by landlords. The company’s name and products can no longer be found on major Chinese e-commerce platforms including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao and Tmall. Online sales of Adidas AG and Nike Inc. also plunged in the country in April after their comments on the Xinjiang issue drew them into the boycott.

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  • McDonald’s unit hands out free iPhones to new employees who meet certain conditions

    McDonald’s unit hands out free iPhones to new employees who meet certain conditions

    Some businesses are just dying to find new employees as the U.S. starts to see the beginning of a post-COVID economy. A tweet disseminated by a Twitter subscriber with the handle Bragard (@brogawd) shows just how desperate a particular McDonald’s unit is to attract and keep new workers. A sign in the unit’s window says in huge letters that the restaurant is “Now Hiring” and in slightly smaller print it states “Free iPhone.”

    Now as you might expect, there are some caveats here. The sign notes that the iPhone is given out after six months of employment as long as the employee meets unnamed employment criteria. And speaking of unnamed, the iPhone model being given away to qualified burger-flippers is not mentioned and neither is the condition of the phone. We can take an educated guess based on the photo used on the sign in the window.

    The last Apple iPhone models outside of the iPhone SE (2020) with Touch ID was the iPhone 8 series released in September, 2017. We suspect that the model they are giving away could be the iPhone 8. A certified refurbished model with 64GB of storage is priced at $200 and up which might not be enough of an incentive to attract new workers.

    And hey, we’re not even sure which iPhone model is being handed out by the wner of this McDonald’s. It would be interesting to know that information and whether the employment bonus has attracted a large response.

    If the model being handed out is an iPhone 8 refurb, it still is a serviceable device able to use iOS 14 and will probably be supported for at least another year or two. Under the hood is the 10nm A11 Bionic chipset with a 12MP single-rear camera.

    If we do manage to find out more information, we will up update this story.

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  • Yakult opens a dessert store in Japan

    Yakult opens a dessert store in Japan

    Japanese sweetened probiotic milk brand Yakult is to open a pop-up dessert store in Tokyo next month.

    Located at the Shibuya 109 building, the Yakult store will offer a range of ice creams, soft serves, and shakes, which are mixed with probiotic milk. Seven kinds of treats, including Yakult Parfait and Ice de Yakult, are developed in partnership with Imada Kitchen.

    The store exterior will present an artwork drawn by the illustrator ‘The Peach of Girl’, which features a “chill and refreshing” vibe and “a feeling of nostalgia”. The Yakult dessert store will open from June 1 until August 1.

    First introduced in 1935, Yakult has been known as a healthy beverage that helps maintain good gut flora, as each bottle is said to contain more than 10 billion ‘Lactobacillus paracasei Shirota’ bacteria.

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  • Vietnam’s TNI King Coffee makes US debut

    Vietnam’s TNI King Coffee makes US debut

    Vietnamese coffee label TNI King Coffee has entered the US, opening its first store in Anaheim, California.

    The launch marks the brand’s second international venture after South Korea. King Coffee said it aims to increase its US store network to 20 this year and 100 by next year via a franchise model.

    “The opening of the first restaurant in the US marks a strong development of TNI King Coffee in the global market,” said Le Hoang Diep Thao, founder and CEO of TNI King Coffee.

    Located in the heart of Orange County, the new King Coffee store is a 10-minute walk away from Disneyland. The store design was inspired by the ‘East-meet-West’ culture.

    King Coffee US houses a selection of coffee, including Vietnam’s famous iced milk coffee, black iced coffee, and egg coffee, together with a full-day menu of Vietnamese and Western food. The store also offers King Coffee’s FMCG product range, including instant and whole-bean coffee.

    After the US, the coffee chain also plans to expand its footprint to other markets, including China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

    King Coffee is known for its Vietnamese coffee range, which is distributed in more than 120 countries and regions.

    Le Hoang Diep Thao previously co-founded Vietnamese coffee conglomerate Trung Nguyen Group with her now estranged husband. King Coffee now operates more than 50 stores in Vietnam.

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  • Masan acquires 20 pct stake in Phuc Long tea chain

    Masan acquires 20 pct stake in Phuc Long tea chain

    A subsidiary of the Masan Group conglomerate has signed an agreement to acquire a 20 percent stake in tea shop chain Phuc Long Heritage Jsc.

    Masan’s The Sherpa Company Ltd will pour $15 million into the company, established last week to own the Phuc Long brand, which is among the most popular beverage brands in Vietnam with 82 stores nationwide.

    The deal puts Phuc Long Heritage’s valuation at $75 million.

    It will help establish Phuc Long kiosks in over 2,200 VinMart+ convenience stores to provide tea and coffee to consumers.

    In the last three months, four pilot kiosks have been opened in Ho Chi Minh City and another 1,000 will be set up in the next 18-24 months.

    “I believe that in combining the Phuc Long products and VinMart+ network of more than 2,200 stores today and 10,000 stores in the next five years, we will provide 100 million Vietnamese consumers with the opportunity to enjoy the freshest, most delicious tea and coffee,” said Truong Cong Thang, CEO of VinCommerce.

    Each kiosk will share 20 percent of its revenue with VinMart+, adding 4 percentage points to the profit margin of the retail chain.

    Vietnam’s tea and coffee market is valued at $2.3 billion and is expected to grow more than 10 percent per year, according to data from Masan, which also estimates that popular brands like Highlands Coffee, The Coffee House and Starbucks account for 25 percent of the market.