Frozen Fruits & Vegetables Market Research Report - Forecast till 2030

Impact of Covid-19 Outbreak on Frozen Fruits & Vegetables Market

The outbreak of COVID-19 has greatly affected consumer’s behavior. On the demand side, consumers are stockpiling shelf-stable food, such as processed fruit and vegetables. The stockpiling practice has led to sudden hike in the market value of the global frozen fruits and vegetables market in 2020 which will normalize with stable situation from the outbreak. Frozen fruits such as froze berries were in higher demand because of the impression that they strengthen the immune system.

Figure: Year-on-year Growth of Global Frozen Vegetables & Fruits Market (2018-2021)

Globally, consumers have had to change their eating habits in the last few months because many restaurants temporarily closed their doors as an effect of COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers are now preferring to eat at home and prepare their own food, as restaurants and take-away offers are being operated only in limited countries . As an impact of these changes, the shopping patterns of consumers all across the globe had changed. Consumers are paying more attention on consuming healthy food. The outbreak has resulted in the sudden increase in demand of frozen fruits and vegetables, as they have higher shelf life and are easy to prepare at home. Also, preparation of frozen products requires less effort than the preparation of fresh products. Apart from higher shelf life, they contains more vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and phytochemical content compared to the fresh vegetables & fruits, as they are picked and frozen at peak ripeness. Also, frozen fruits and vegetables can be stored for more period of time comparative to fresh once during the lockdown period, as fresh vegetables & fruits gets spoiled easily after they gets fully grown.

On the supply side, companies are struggling to meet this demand due to labor and logistics capacity issues. In several major production areas manpower is not available. Limited vehicular movement and fear of infections are the major reason for the labor shortage. The logistical companies are facing problems finding enough truck drivers. Also, the restriction on sea transport and lack of air freight and ocean freight are facing shortage in the containers. This has resulted in the export of products from developing countries. For instance, Philippines has stopped the delivery of fruits & vegetables as an outbreak of pandemic situation. Also, there have been transportation delays in Europe, as a result of internal border controls. The situation will hopefully ease as European Food Safety Authority have asked to introduce alternative checks.

The advent of the global pandemic, COVID-19 has resulted in creating a global crisis across the world. Impacting over 215 countries, the pandemic has already created economic backdrop worldwide. With over 4.1 million COVID-19 cases worldwide along with 2,83,876 fatalities during the second week of May 2020, the global pandemic, COVID-19 is deemed to create a chaotic environment thereby resulting in the advent of global rescission. This pandemic situation has been affecting the commodity market in many ways. The demand for essential commodities such as frozen fruits and vegetables has been increasing in multiples.

Source: MRFR Analysis