Food

Rising awareness of ‘Clean Label’ products, increasing intake of plant-based food, growing demand for regional food, or reducing waste to a minimum in both the production and the consumption phases – these changes in consumer preferences are recently influencing the Food market and causing the market to adapt quickly. The COVID-19 crisis has not only strengthened sustainability trends in the Food market, but also accelerated eCommerce growth and home delivery. This leads to a challenge for retailers: How to attract and retain consumers in an ‘omnichannel’ world? In recent years, food prices have increased and hit a record high in February 2022. The key drivers of the increased food prices are the recovery of global demand, especially the demand for agricultural products for industrial use from China, the rise of fertilizer prices, and rising international freight costs. The rise of food prices mostly affects parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, which are more dependent on imported food than other regions. Global demand for food is predicted to increase steadily over the coming years. Most additional food demand comes from low- and middle-income countries due to economic development, young population, fast population growth, and non-saturation of food consumption.