Image credit: Euromonitor International
AUTHOR: Emil Fazira, APAC insights manager- Food
Following contraction in 2022 and 2023, snacks in Asia Pacific grew by 0.7% in 2024 to reach USD160 billion in retail value sales, due to strengthening demand and improving macroeconomic conditions. In 2025, it is expected to continue its upward trajectory with 4% retail value sales growth.
Winning strategies play a key role in maintaining momentum to 2030, changing how brands shape innovation and expansion priorities.
Repositioning to premium quality and health
Companies are evolving from being snack producers with health claims to being healthy food brands with snack products. As consumer demand for diverse health-focused options grows, businesses are prioritizing innovation to strengthen their health and wellness offerings.
This is why Lemonilo, a health-orientated brand that also sells high-fibre snacks, is a reputable competitor. Its healthy packaged food products give it solid brand equity despite it ranking in the mid-twenties in Indonesian salty snacks.
Lotte Group’s 2022 launch of Lotte Zero is another example, succeeding both domestically and overseas. Lotte focuses on no-sugar snacks, including chocolate confectionery, biscuits and ice cream, and has pushed its portfolio into wider Asia Pacific beyond South Korea.
Such strategy gives a brand leverage when entering emerging markets to compete with incumbents. For instance, the leading snack brand in India, Parle, holds over a 25% share in four snacks categories. Businesses trying to penetrate India that have an assortment of snack products are better positioned to champion their value and illustrate their competitive edge.
Innovation focuses on affordable indulgence
Consumers still expect some indulgence from snacks, with this having a varied impact in Asia Pacific. Demand for ice cream in China and Japan was conservative with consumers tightening their budgets and ice cream perceived as a discretionary, premium spend.
However, demand for ice cream in emerging markets is rising, with innovations being localised to spending appetite, such as Joyice’s Little Star launch in the Philippines at only PHP5 (barely USD0.10), and flavour palates (tropical flavours, lighter and less decadent mouthfeel). India and Southeast Asia are digging into China and Japan’s regional scoop of ice cream, their collective share climbing from 17% in 2020 to 24% in 2025.
Confectionery also benefits from growing consumer demand for small treats that are light on the stomach and the wallet. Gummies and jellies saw a surge of consumer interest, the category’s growth outpacing the rest of sugar confectionery across all Asian markets.
Source: Euromonitor International Passport, Snacks 2026ed
With the recent macroeconomic challenges, we expect to see more sensorial innovations justifying higher prices emerge as brands vie for market share.
Snack specialists and e-commerce eat into supermarket share of sales
Busy For You and Bestore are examples of snack specialists in China that are gaining prominence. These retailers make trendy snacks more accessible to consumers, especially in lower-tier cities – a boon that few snack brands can drive single-handedly given the dynamic and complex market landscape.
Retail e-commerce is also steadily growing, although dominated by markets with more developed e-commerce infrastructures like China and South Korea. In Southeast Asia, for instance, the share of retail e-commerce is still below 4%, although Indonesia is steadily recording incremental growth rates.
Source: Euromonitor International Passport, Snacks 2026ed
Sales growth of snacks in Asia Pacific is predicted to gain momentum
The retail value sales performance of snacks is set to continue improving, estimated at a 2% CAGR (excluding the effects of exchange rates and inflation) over 2025-2030. Ice cream is predicted to be the key beneficiary of the rise for its affordable and healthy indulgence.
Expect more focus on flavourful varieties, strategic offering across price tiers, and further exploration of alternative ingredients. These are ways that snack producers may overcome threats from rising costs, intensifying competition, and more discerning consumers.
