Asia Pulse: Q4 2024

As we closed 2024, the FMCG sector in Asia continued to demonstrate economic resilience, with a stable value growth rate of 2.7%. The beverages sector remains the key growth driver, while the food and home care categories are sustaining their momentum. This report covers 11 markets, highlighting the key trends and evolving consumer behaviours that have shaped the region’s FMCG landscape throughout the year.

Market highlights:

• Chinese Mainland

The development of the Chinese mainland’s FMCG market remained stable in 2024. While the beverage category saw significant growth, the personal care category continued to decline, but this slowed in the fourth quarter. The dairy category continued to face considerable growth challenges.

• Taiwan

Shoppers appreciate the convenience and affordability of online shopping, keeping e-commerce on a strong growth trajectory (+15%). However, they also continue to enjoy the in-store shopping experience, with the performance of hypermarkets (+7%) and supermarkets (+5%) improving from stable to strong.

• India

The impact of inflation on household FMCG consumption remains moderate. Volume sales in the sector grew by 4.6% in Q4 of 2024; however, the pace of growth is slower compared to the 8% seen in Q4 2023. In the urban region, volume growth in the food sector was hampered in the second half of 2024 by a notable surge in price inflation.

• South Korea

The FMCG market in Korea has been growing steadily, with a 6.6% value increase at the year-end. This was driven by an expansion in consumers’ basket size. Meanwhile, the decline in frequency observed in Q3 continued.

• United Arab Emirates

As consumers grapple with rising living costs, they are trying to find ways to get more value – opting for a higher frequency of shopping trips, with smaller baskets. Spend within discounters is rising sharply, making a strategic approach essential for driving brand growth. Consumers from all socio-economic groups visited discounters in 2024.

• Saudi Arabia

Despite an expanding economy and relatively low inflation, Saudi Arabia's FMCG sector is struggling to achieve healthy growth. The influx of white-collar expatriates has contributed to an overall increase in FMCG volume, yet this has not translated into robust value growth across categories. Shoppers remain price-conscious, with spending patterns shifting toward essential goods and promotion-driven purchases.

• Indonesia

Supermarkets are the main drivers of penetration growth, bringing in new shoppers to the modern trade channel. At the same time, e-commerce complements traditional retail by attracting additional shoppers and strengthening the shift toward omnichannel shopping.

• Malaysia

Shoppers have been making fewer visits across various shopping channels, but offsetting this by increasing their spend per trip. Foot traffic in minimarkets has continued to rise, driven by the appeal of consistently low prices and convenience. However, this seems to result in a lower growth in spend per trip compared to other channels.

• Thailand

Take-home FMCG is finally recovering following two years of decline, led mostly by an increase in basket size and frequency. However, shoppers are switching to smaller pack sizes to avoid spending too much.

• Philippines

Filipinos’ top channels – sari-sari stores and hyper/supermarkets – remained stable in Q4 of 2024. Smaller channels like direct sales, discounters and e-commerce have driven overall growth, indicating that shoppers’ behaviour is becoming more omni-channel in nature.

• Vietnam

Vietnam recorded a stellar economic performance in 2024, with strong GDP growth of 7.09%, demonstrating resilience despite the economic impact of typhoon Yagi. Overall consumer confidence in economic prospects improved from 2023, but has not yet recovered to pre-COVID levels in 2019.