Market Trends of Frozen Food Industry
Surge In Demand For Ready Meals
Globally, the demand for convenient and instant food, particularly ready-to-eat products, is growing faster. This can be attributed to changes in social and economic patterns, increased expenditure on food and beverage, awareness about healthy food, changes in meal patterns and existing food habits, growing ex-pat settlement population across the regions, and the desire to taste new products. Moreover, the on-the-go food concept is closely associated with easy consumption and handling of products, which ready meals can offer. Thus, the demand for frozen food products is increasing due to the linked convenience of consumption and aided by disposable packaging simultaneously. Similarly, these frozen ready meals require minimum or no further preparation before consumption. With technological innovations in the food industry, convenience food includes ready meals in frozen, portion-controlled, shelf-stable, microwaveable, and prepared-mixes formats. Besides this, to cater to the consumers' demand for shelf-stability and convenience, manufacturers are innovating in formulation, which may be carried everywhere without spilling and has a long shelf life.
Europe Dominates the Market
Convenience and long shelf life are key factors driving the increase in consumption of frozen food across the region. Owing to this factor, the players operating in this market segment have been introducing new variants of frozen food influenced by different cuisines to cater to the shifting preferences of consumers. For instance, in June 2023, Frosta AG, a German-based company, launched a plant-based frozen food range, including Vegan Fish Fingers (Veggie Fish Stabchen). The company claims to utilize protein replacement ingredients from a reliable source. Moreover, there is a rise in the number of health-conscious consumers in Canada. This, in turn, is boosting the demand for frozen yogurt, as it has various health benefits, simproved digestion, enhanced immune function, and reduced risk of several diseases, including obesity. Additionally, frozen meat offers multiple advantages, such as longer shelf life and food safety, which are expected to drive the growth of the frozen meat market over the forecast period.
