Consumer Trends in the Food Industry

With the world population expected to grow to over 10 billion by the end of the century, stakeholders (Producers, Processors, Distributors, Consumers) all around the world are finding sustainable ways to meet the consumption demands of the human population in years to come. For Singapore food distributor and wholesale food supplier such as OreganoTrading & SSKim had taken notice of this trend and are finding ways to achieve food sustainability through their work processes. To add, Oregano trading is also a well-known food trading company in Singapore that provides wholesale meat Singapore and other wholesale food in Singapore.

Adding to the woes of a sustained global food supply chain are climate changes, limited farming lands due to urbanisation, and lack of capital investments & innovations especially in under-developed & developing countries.

It remains to be seen if governments and regulators all around the world are able to achieve desirable outcomes for all stakeholders. Issues such as supply chain efficiency, market volatility (trade curbs), innovation to support growth, energy efficiency, waste management, addressing new consumption trends, demands of diverse food origins & food source sustainability is factors affecting all stakeholders.

Governments and regulators are constantly working with leading global producers to address the issues faced, and tackling from macro-level to micro-level food trends among the communities concurrently. Next, we look at the local context of Singapore and see how global issues are affecting the local food industry.

Being a metropolis, Singapore’s agriculture resources are finite.

We are largely dependent on imports to fulfil our population needs, and we will see an ascending trend to our consumption needs due to higher GDP, as well as the rising influx of visitors to this metropolitan city for these factors:

·         Increasing the frequency of flights from surrounding / nearby countries

·         Two integrated resorts in Singapore

·         Increasing number of meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions

·         New tourist attractions

As these factors contribute to the ever-rising demand in quality food as in any affluent cities, we are one of the largest importers of agricultural products and processed food.

The organic food market in Singapore is small with rice being the biggest contributor to the market. Singapore also imports its organic food.

The following consumer trends should also be taken into consideration:

·         Singaporeans are leading hectic lifestyles and have no time to prepare their meals so they would rather eat out

·         Western influence has had households opt for foods common to the west, and are gradually more receptive of these instead of the usual traditional food

·         Due to high household incomes, Singaporeans are able to purchase food and beverages to the basis of a want rather than a need

For distributors such as Oregano Trading Pte Ltd, they have done a rebranding exercise to communicate their brand values and CSR through various communication channels to create awareness and advocate consumers on this global phenomenon. 

A thorough re-branding exercise is also necessary to position themselves as a ship provisions supply in one of the world major ports, Singapore. Being known as a seafood supplier Singapore,  spices supplier Singapore and cheese supplier Singapore is also crucial to help her in the ship provisions supply in Singapore.