Asia-Pacific Sweet Biscuits Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Asia-Pacific Sweet Biscuits Market is projected to register a CAGR of 2.37% during the forecast period, 2022-2027.

The demand and sale of snacks have experienced a sudden slump due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Asia-Pacific Sweet Biscuits market, which had been seeing some tasty-looking growth before COVID-19, has seen demand soar during the epidemic due to increased at-home consumption, as do many other product categories throughout the world. According to the 2019-20 annual report released by local big producer Britannia Industries, biscuits are India's largest processed food category. During the coronavirus quarantine, the popular and widely accessible biscuit brand Parle-G saw its highest sales in decades. During the lockdown period of March, April, and May, the firm claimed that the biscuit brand saw its strongest sales in over eight decades. While Parle-G enjoyed record-breaking sales, rival biscuits were not far behind. Increased munching surely helped Oreo, the world's most popular cookie. According to the annual report of Mondelez, in the quarter of 2020, Mondelez expanded e-commerce sales by 200 percent, bringing its online business to 6% of total sales.

Further, with the growing awareness about nutrition, a healthy diet plays a crucial role in today's busy lifestyles as global consumers are looking for those biscuits that are, both, convenient and help in quantifying the intake of nutrients. Therefore, digestive biscuits are increasingly launched by companies and are competitively engaged in launching new and innovative plain biscuits, particularly in developing countries where there is an increase in the consumption of health-based biscuits. Companies, such as Parle G and Britannia, are the most popular brands in India in the plain biscuit category.

In Australia, due to the growing demand for convenience food, innovations in packaging, and an expanding young population, the biscuit market is expected to continue to grow. There is a growing trend of using premium biscuits as gifting options for special occasions like Valentine's Day, Easter celebrations, or family gatherings across the country, providing a driving force for the luxury biscuit market.

Key Market Trends

Product Innovation with New Formulations Is Attracting Consumers

The demand for biscuits is increasing due to the growing demand for healthy snacks and an increase in per capita consumption in developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region. For instance, in July 2021, ITC Limited's Sunfeast, one of India's most preferred brands in biscuits and cakes, launched a new-to-market biscuit experience with the launch of Sunfeast All-Rounder. It is a new potato biscuit, crunchy, and one of the thinnest biscuits ever manufactured in India.

Due to the changing demographics and high levels of disposable income, the Asia-Pacific region's urbanization is opening up new opportunities for growth. Consumers are being drawn to frequent launches of basic products with new formulations, such as low-fat, gluten-free, low-carb, organic, and high-fiber biscuits, which is boosting market expansion. For instance, in January 2020, Mondelez India launches Cadbury Chocobakes, bringing their signature chocolate flavor to a cookie format.​ Sweet biscuits are the fastest-growing sector owing to their taste and healthy ingredients. Biscuits in the region include a variety of crisp, baked goods like cookies, crackers, pretzels, and pies among others.

Supermarket/Hypermarket Holds A Prominent Share

Supermarkets/hypermarkets have always had a strong lead in biscuit sales as they have the extra benefit of influencing the consumer's decision to make a purchase among the huge range of items available on the market. Supermarkets/hypermarkets are the most common sales channels for biscuits across the world, owing to their large retail area and ability to appeal to a wide range of preferences.

Due to the huge discounts, offers, product bundling, and other consumer-oriented schemes accessible to customers, shopping at hypermarkets/supermarkets is also perceived as beneficial and effective. They have a strong foothold due to the large number of brands available and regular discount offers. These are the channels that biscuit manufacturers choose to introduce new products and expand their market share. This is mostly due to their expanding geographical footprints in comparison to other distribution channels, which are also expanding their footprints across the region. Additionally, players, like Mondelez India, announced their plan to expand their biscuit portfolio (Oreo) with an intent to increase their distribution network in the country. According to the Associate Director of marketing (Biscuits), Mondelez India, ​in 2019, the Mondelez India added nearly 242,000 stores (selling biscuits), of which 107,000 were in rural areas and the remaining 135,000 in urban areas.​

In the biscuit category, supermarkets/hypermarkets provide a lot of options. As a result, there is strong competition on the store shelf to distinguish various kinds of biscuits. According to Motilal Oswal Group, the Future Retail has a total of 318 Big Bazaar stores across the country in 2021. This is driving the biscuit producers to reinvent and reposition their products as a luxury in-store item, catering to certain customer demands such as sugar-free, high fiber, gluten-free, taste, packaging, or targeting specific age groups. Due to the wide variety of biscuits available, supermarkets and hypermarkets are gaining market share. Some of the major key players in the segment are Mondelez International Inc., Britannia Industries, ITC Ltd.

Competitive Landscape

The Asia-Pacific Sweet Biscuits market facilitates its operation in a highly competitive market. This is due to the presence of several local, domestic and global players in this segment. The major players in the Asia-Pacific sweet biscuits market are Mondelez International, Inc., Britannia Industries Limited, Parle Products Pvt. Ltd., Yildiz Holding AS, and ITC Limited. Emphasis is given to the merger, expansion, acquisition, and partnership of the companies along with new product development as strategic approaches adopted by the leading companies to boost their brand presence among consumers. Eventually, other players Britannia Industries Limited which is one of the top players in this specific market drastically focused on its research and development sectors, the main strategy behind improvising the R&D sectors of the company was to innovate new products to sustain a good position in the market. For instance, in May 2022, Sunfest Bounce launched its new range of biscuits in India, Bounce Fills, The biscuits are milk creme center-filled cookies available in two different flavors Orange and Strawberry.

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