After two consecutive years of decline, Vietnam’s instant noodle consumption started recovering in 2017 with the total sale of 5.06 billion packets, up 3 per cent compared to 2016 and 5.4 per cent compared to 2015.
According to statistics published by the World Instant Noodle Association (WINA), Vietnam is currently ranked fifth in the world in terms of instant noodle consumption, following China, Indonesia, Japan, and India.
According to WINA, around 100 billion instant noodle packets are sold annually worldwide. Global sales saw a growth rate of 40 per cent from $44 billion in 2013 to $61 billion in 2017, as revealed by Euromonitor’s statistics.
In Vietnam, the wide range of products available to customers thanks to the growing number of both foreign and local firms joining the market is one of the reasons behind the increase in consumption.
At present, there are approximately 50 enterprises producing instant noodles in Vietnam. Seventy per cent of the revenue is made by Vina Acecook, Masan Consumer, and Asia Foods, the three largest instant noodle producers.
Notably, Vina Acecook ranks first with 43 per cent of the market share in general and 50 per cent of the market share in the urban areas in particular.
While Vina Acecook’s products are dominating the urban market, the products of Masan Consumer and Asia Food are in the lead in rural areas, with the total market shares of 60 per cent.
Regarding the high-end instant noodle segment, imported products are overwhelming the local products with the average selling price of VND23,700-35,000.
Recently, the increase in instant noodle consumption increased the revenue of manufacturers.
Notably, Acecook Vietnam reported that its revenue in the first half of 2018 saw an increase of 8 per cent on-year, thanks to favourable market conditions.
Similarly, Colusa-Miliket Foodstuff also reported an increase of 10 per cent on-year in revenue during the six-month period, reaching VND281 billion ($12.13 million).
Kim Oanh report on VIR