Trend Tracker: Coca-Cola India sustainable mangoes, Oatly plant-based milk growth, PepsiCo active hydration and more feature in our round-up

Rich pickings: Coca-Cola India promotes sustainable mango cultivation in alignment with government initiative​

Coca-Cola India has launched a programme to back sustainable mango cultivation in India to increase yields and maximise sustainability, in alignment with the government’s vision of self-reliance for the country.

Coca-Cola India aims to revolutionise sustainable mango cultivation by focusing on the Alphonso and Totapuri varieties in Karnataka. This will be done via Project Mango Unnati in collaboration with Gram Unnati, an agri value chain enterprise that supports 200,000 farmers across seven different states.

“Farmers are the backbone of India’s horticulture system. With Project Mango Unnati, we aim to elevate the livelihoods of these farmers with advanced horticulture solutions, empowering them to significantly increase their incomes,”​ said Rajesh Ayapilla, Senior Director- CSR and Sustainability for Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia.

‘Celebrate competition’: Oatly optimistic about plant-based milk category growth, strides forward in global expansion​

Oat drink major Oatly expects continuing demand for plant-based milks as its current generation of consumers mature, and believes that more players entering the market will help boost category growth.Story:

While Oatly was not the first-ever oat milk brand, it has played a crucial role in spurring the category forward and continues to be a market leader today.

“We are proud to have ignited the plant-based milk movement in every region we’ve entered over the last 10 years.​ Plant-based milks have managed to cement their place in popular and consumer culture, and as current generations of consumers mature, we believe the switch from cow’s milk to plant-based milks will continue trending upward," ​Willy Low, Regional Director (South East Asia and North Asia) at Oatly, told FoodNavigator-Asia​.​

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Beyond sports: PepsiCo highlights new opportunities for active hydration beverages in APAC – Growth Asia Summit 2024​

Beverage giant PepsiCo believes there is enormous potential to develop a broad and varied portfolio of active hydration beverages for consumers in the APAC market, based on the wide spectrum of active lifestyle needs in the region.

With the rise of health and wellness awareness and the importance of fitness post-pandemic, more and more consumers across the Asia Pacific region have been adopting healthier and more active lifestyles to varying degrees – which has in turn also led to an increase in the need for beverages to suit these lifestyles.

According to PepsiCo Life Sciences Sr. Scientist Teena Badshah, one key beverage category here has been active hydration which covers a variety of items from functional vitamin-infused drinks to sports drinks.

Localisation landslide: Ritter Sport zooms in on APAC consumer flavour and festivity popularity to enhance relevance​

Ritter Sport has zoomed in on APAC consumer preferences for its fruity yoghurt flavours as well as demand aligned with cultural festivities to create several new product lines.

Ritter Sport is best known for its wide range of colourfully-packaged chocolates encompassing both sweet and savoury flavours and fillings – and the firm has taken stock of a particular flavour preference in the Asia Pacific region, namely for fruity yoghurt products, in order to launch its newest range.

“We have noticed that the fruity yoghurt products have been doing particularly well in the Asia Pacific region and have thus decided it is time to put the spotlight on these flavours in particular in our new combo launch,”​​ Ritter Sport Marketing Manager Global Travel Retail Kerstin Kruger-Worreschk told FoodNavigator-Asia​.

Singapore’s Pétale Tea catches onto self-care trend with wellness tea range​

Singapore-based tea company Pétale Tea is capitalising on the booming self-care trend by creating a range of Wellness Teas targeting areas including sleep and beauty-from-within.

After over seven years in business, more than 60% of the firm’s sales today come from the HoReCa sector and the remaining from retail.

In January, Pétale Tea released the Wellness Teas range after recognising demand based on clients’ feedback.

“Our café and restaurant clients were asking for options other than our signature Blooming Teas. It seems that a lot of consumers are looking for non-caffeinated tea, as well as things that are ‘good for hair and skin’," ​Rosemary Kwa, founder of Pétale Tea, told FoodNavigator-Asia​.

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