Mr Viral
Nestle highlights home cooking and MAGGI brand as key growth drivers for Asia and OceaniaNestle believes there is significant growth potential for its flagship Maggi brand by tapping into home cooking solutions and smaller meals.
MAGGI is well-known worldwide as an instant noodle and cooking solutions brand, and its level of recognition is particularly strong in what Nestle calls Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA) which contains the entire Asia Pacific region as well as Africa.
“MAGGI is for us a powerhouse in Zone AOA, with unmatched presence across 113 countries and our data indicating products being used in some 297 million households here,” Nestle Zone AOA CEO Remy Ejel said.
‘Forceful and precise’: How China’s retaliation to Trump’s tariffs could impact food tradeChina’s retaliatory 34% tariff response to Trump’s Liberation Day hikes is likely to have a major impact on the food and beverage trade.
Earlier this year, China had already struck back against Trump’s first and second tariff hikes by implementing its own increases for some 820 US imports – over 700 of which were agrifood products.
“The US’s unilateral tariff increase damages the multilateral trading system, increases the burden on US companies and consumers, and undermines the foundation of economic and trade cooperation between China and the US,” China’s State Council Tariff Commission (CTC) had said via a strongly-worded statement.
“[As such], additional tariffs have been imposed on some imported goods originating from the United States to China starting March 10 2025.”
Thailand to amend nutrition labelling guidelines for ‘better visibility and industry compliance’ The Thai government has announced further plans to amend nutrition labelling guidelines after industry complaints around implementation.
Thailand has been making various amendments to the labelling regulations for food and beverage products , including stricter criteria for on-pack health claims, laying the onus on manufacturers for the inclusion of clear information on labels and recently revising the Healthy Choice logo eligibility criteria for several products.
According to the local Thai Food and Drug Administration (Thai FDA), feedback from the industry has indicated that these changes have not solved some core, practical labelling issues, thus another round of public opinion were sought on new changes to labelling criteria.
Cell-cultured coffee: Food tech firm eyes Asia for large-scale launch to combat supply chain woesCell-cultured coffee could address pricing, quality, and other supply chain inefficiencies in Asia, says Singapore foodtech firm Another Food.
The firm is leveraging plant cell culture to optimise coffee production, significantly shortening the harvest cycle. It aims to produce a harvest every 14 days – roughly 20 times faster than traditional farming.
“A small coffee farm typically produces around 800 kilograms of coffee per year. Using our technology, we could scale up to 15 to 20 tonnes annually,” said CEO Stéphane Chen.
Mengniu hopes to beat ‘industry turbulence’ via premiumisation, ASEAN-driven growthChinese dairy giant Mengniu hopes to overcome reduced local demand with premium innovation and an increased focus on overseas markets.
Mengniu recently announced its FY2024 full year financial results, reporting a decrease of 10.1% year-on-year in revenue to CNY88.7bn (US$12.2bn) as well as a significant drop of over 95% in profits for the year to CNY224.6mn (US$30.9mn) from CNY4.9bn (US$660.4mn) the previous year.
The firm attributed these declines to the impact of losses incurred by subsidiary Bellamy’s Organic in Australia (estimated at between CNY3.8bn to CNY4bn / US$522.8mn to US$550.4mn) and China Modern Dairy (estimated between CNY1.35bn to CNY1.55bn / US$185.7mn to US$213.3mn).
