Trend Tracker: Low and non-alcoholic drinks, ready-to-sip tea, clean-eating and more

Kirin Brewery has announced a renewed focus on developing more low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages within its portfolio, after the traditional beer sector hit a 17-year high in 2024. In 2024, the firm announced that the overall beer market in Japan saw standard beer account for over 55% of the total market for the first time in 17 years. The standard beer sector benefitted from tax cuts, while the overall category was buoyed by and the introduction of products like happoshu and New genre (no-malt beer) to the market. Given this positive growth, Kirin Brewery believes this is the right time to refocus its energies on areas of importance in the market. “Total 2024 beer sales were 111.8 million cases, and our mainstay KIRIN ICHIBAN saw positive growth thanks to the effect of a brand renewal,” Kirin Brewery stated via a formal statement. India-based Cup-ji is capitalising on the convenience trend with its ready-to-sip beverage cups while eyeing global expansion on the back of UAE gains. According to co-founder Jay Sotta, the brand is the youth wing of Aditya Trading Company, which owns the Arati Tea brand and exports more than 3m kg of tea per year to over 21 countries. “My family has been into the tea business for 100 years. I’m the fifth generation in the business, where we are focusing on innovative hot beverages that can build a consumption habit for tomorrow,” he told FoodNavigator-Asia at Gulfood 2025. Cup-ji’s ready-to-sip beverage cup won the Best Packaging and Design category at the trade show’s Innovation Awards this year. These cups come in three variations, namely Karak or chai tea (original, masala, cardamom, saffron, ginger, lemongrass), coffee (cappuccino, mocha, hazelnut, vanilla), and hot beverages (hot chocolate, turmeric latte). Dubai-based snacks firm SMITHS is pursuing a bigger share of the Asian market by banking on its long brand history, and introducing products that are cleaner and tapping on evolving flavour trends. Today, SMITHS claims to be a leading snacking brand in the Middle East, with ambitions to build a bigger presence in the Asian market. “We make potato chips that are made from 100% potato. The best-performing ranges are Square Crisps and Baked Corn. We have classic flavours like curry, and salt and vinegar, and newer ones like tomato. In Asia, the Qrakers line does very well. “At Gulfood, one of our biggest launches is the Honey Butter flavour for Baked Corn. It has a sweet and savoury taste designed with Asian markets in mind. We will be expanding this flavour line very soon,” Nadir Saigol, CEO of SMITHS Saigol & Gulf, told FoodNavigator-Asia . While the honey butter craze first sparked in South Korea and subsequently spread across Asia, Saigol said that the flavour has also gained traction among Middle Eastern consumers. Industry experts from Mars, Lotte and Agthia share their strategies for success in APAC’s thriving confectionery sector. APAC confectionery is one of the most varied in the world, with different cultures having their own specialities, such as traditional kuih desserts in Malaysia, sweet treats like jalebi in India, and traditional Japanese confectionery termed wagashi, in addition to standard sweets, candies and jellies. According to 2024 data from Euromonitor, confectionery was the second largest snack category in Asia covering 33.4% of the market (behind savoury snacks which held 35.1% of the snacking market), and price growth in this sector has been outpacing other categories. Multiple confectionery leaders in the region have highlighted a need to focus on key drivers such as healthier innovation and adaptability in order to secure a piece of this pie. Upcoming food and beverage innovation in China should incorporate hyperlocal elements, strong aromas or radical reinventions of well-known classics to resonate with China’s ‘sensitive’ taste buds. It is a well-known fact that consumers in China have some of the most exacting taste buds in the world driven by the wide range of cuisines available in the market, and the unusually rapid rate of innovation in the country. This means that food and beverage first need to go the extra mile to cut through the noise. “China is a unique market compared to the rest of the world, and this is firstly because we have such a large population leading to increased demands compared to other regions; but more importantly because consumer taste buds here are truly more sensitive,” Kerry China Marketing Director Helen Tang told FoodNavigator-Asia at the recent Food Ingredients China (FIC) 2025 show in Shanghai.

Trend Tracker: Low and non-alcoholic drinks, ready-to-sip tea, clean-eating and more

Low and non-alcoholic drinks, ready-to-sip tea, clean-eating and more feature in this edition of Trend Tracker.

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