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Beverages and snacks in the UAE succeeded in overcoming inflation pressures in the Asia and Middle East region during 2022, according to a report by the Food and Beverage Business Group in the UAE «Nielsen Q».
And the “Food Aviator Asia” website, which specializes in the food and beverage industry in Asia and the Pacific, quoted the company’s director, Adeel Durrani, during a live event focused on analyzing the results of the report, as saying: “The beverage category in particular witnessed remarkable growth after the Corona pandemic, starting with From the fourth quarter of 2021 onwards.
Durrani attributed this to the high rates of tourism growth since Expo 2020 Dubai, as well as other social events that helped drive demand, along with the performance of smaller local companies in the beverage sector.
“We believe that the beverage industry in the country is currently dominated by those small companies, as these companies are growing at a rate of 14.7 percent,” Durrani said.
Food Avigator indicated that among these small names are the drinking water brands “Lago” and “Abant”, which lead the premium water category, which grew by about 17%; In addition to “Freeze” and “Rita”, which leads the category of premium soft drinks, which grew by 134% overall.
He added, “The main drivers of growth in this category are excellence, innovation and increased reach; But looking at the water sector, it’s clear that local players control this.”
However; According to what Durrani says, “the sports drink sector, which is growing by 15%, is still dominated by international giant companies, such as Red Bull in particular, as it is the only brand in the market that raises its prices by 2%, while all other companies It offered discounts on prices by about 4%.
Durrani confirmed that the sports drinks sector, in general, witnessed a decrease of 3.8% in prices, but most other sectors witnessed a rise in prices, such as juices, by 10.3%, and coffee, an increase by 12.7%, which led to an increase in the average category by 2.4% compared to two years ago.
The Food Aviator website stated that the snacks category is one of the other major performance sectors in the UAE market, which witnessed an impressive total growth rate of 15.9% during 2022, as it came second after the bakery sector.
“Snacks were the second largest booming basket in the market, driven by consumption and price increases led by chocolate and biscuits,” Durrani said.
Chocolate in particular grew at the fastest rate at 20% due to an 11% increase in consumption.
Durrani pointed out that small brands achieved an outstanding performance, which outperformed private brands on the average category with a growth rate of 17.8%, especially in the nuts and biscuits sectors.
“It is clear that consumers have continued to purchase sweet and savory snacks on a regular basis, despite the obvious price increases that have occurred in this category, such as a 10.8% increase in savory snacks and a 15% increase in biscuits compared to two years ago.” .
Durrani pointed out that the baked goods category has emerged as the best performing category in the UAE in terms of growth, as it is the fastest growing category in the food industry driven by strong consumption and high food prices. Significant growth has been observed due to factors such as inflation and high input costs.
Durrani cited an example saying: “The croissant was one of the best performing bakery products in the market, the growing demand for this is seen not only as a snack but also as a cheaper breakfast item than cereal which has seen a price hike,” adding, “The health factor is playing Strongly here, as consumers are increasingly looking for baked goods that are made with natural ingredients and are free of additives and preservatives.”
