Rapidly urbanizing Asian countries – i.e., Vietnam, Philippines, India, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia – with growing disposable incomes and aggressive investment from multinational companies, are increasingly interested in snacking. Growth is especially hot for sweet and savory snacks and frozen desserts. Consumers are especially attracted to Western-style snacks in addition to their traditional snacks. Hand-in-hand with the urbanization trend are impulse, indulgence, and convenience, a good sign for ready meals and processed food. Three countries – India, Indonesia and Vietnam – are booming markets for packaged food. In terms of companies, Mondelez International Inc. is doing especially well with their lines of cookies, snack bars and candy.
"Packaged Food in Asia at a Glance", Report, Euromonitor International, November 28, 2015
A N.Y.-based company whose mission is to build greenhouse farms to supply fresh produce to regional supermarket chains is expanding its operations rapidly to take advantage of the “locally grown” trend. BrightFarms’s newest customer is Chicago-area Mariano’s stores, but it has built, or is building, greenhouses in Virginia, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Illinois. The business model seems sound, because the idea is to cut food transport costs by building the farms near stores. According to founder Paul Lightfoot, the Chicago greenhouse will produce a million pounds of fruits and vegetables a year, applying hydroponic technologies that use 90 percent less water, 75 percent less land and 98 percent less shipping fuel than conventional lettuce growers.
"Grocery and a greenhouse: How BrightFarms plans to shorten the produce supply chain for retail", NewHope360.com, December 02, 2015
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The New York Times, November 06, 2015
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