COVID Impact Update, September 2020

97% of Asian Importers Seek New Opportunities

We asked over 900 Asia wide distributors in our network how COVID-19 had impacted their business. The results surprised us. Despite the major disruptions caused by COVID, 97% of them said they were still actively looking to take on new brands.

The major change is the type of products that distributors are looking for with the most noticeable trends addressing the shift from eating-out to home consumption.

Pre COVID-19 the average single person living in a city like Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok or Manila would grab a quick bite from their local food stall or take their pick of cheap and cheerful hot meals from the food court in their nearest shopping mall.

This meant that foreign brands in the frozen, ready-to-eat (microwavable), meal category found it very difficult to break into the markets of Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. With the ample supply of freshly cooked street food available consumers simply weren’t looking in supermarket freezers for their lunch and dinner options.

Now, with almost everything people eating being purchased online to be consumed at home, the demand for tasty and affordable convenience food is on a steep incline.

Distributors are responding to this shift by actively searching for brands that meet the new normal.

Our survey also sought feedback from these distributors on what was having the biggest impact on day-to-day operations for food and beverage distributors and what their outlook was for the remainder of 2020.

We’re going to be sharing these results with you shortly, so keep an eye on your inbox.

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