Ready-to-Eat Meals Market Research Report - Forecast till 2030

Impact of COVID-19 On the Global Ready-to-Eat Meals Market

The degree of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic varies from country to country. Due to effective containment strategies, a few countries are reviving their economies and enforcing measures to sustain growth. The number of recent instances has plateaued or is declining in other countries. Therefore, many countries are debating at the next right step for reopening their economies. Some nations are at the peak of the infection and are taking the necessary measures to fight the outbreak. All countries are deploying measures such as physical distancing, limiting travel, encouraging the use of personal protective equipment, and increasing the number of centers for checkups and tracing. This pandemic situation has affected the commodity industry in many ways. The demand for essential commodities, such as groceries, has been increasing significantly.

COVID-19 has created a panic situation among consumers with temporary closures of retail stores in an attempt to limit the impact of the virus. This has led to panic purchasing among the consumers and the stockpiling of food products with a long shelf life, including ready-to-eat meal products such as rice & noodles, salads, gravies & curries, pasta & pizzas, and soups. According to the US Soyabean Export Council, the ready-to-eat meal market has been seeing an upward trend owing to the increasing demand for convenience food.

According to MRFR analysis, the demand ready-to-eat meals in the global market is expected to increase amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in the next couple of months. However, owing to the worldwide lockdown, the overall food industry is facing a shortage of adequate labor. The migration of laborers to their hometowns due to the lack of availability of work is a common issue that every country is facing. Established manufacturers are somehow managing to continue the production of ready-to-eat meal products with a minimum workforce, while small manufacturing companies are facing hard times. Apart from labor issues, other prominent issues such as movement restrictions due to lockdown thereby hampering the supply chain and the limited availability of raw materials such as wheat and vegetables are restricting the growth of the ready-to-eat meals market.

In response to the pandemic, consumers have been put under lockdown with several states imposing stay-at-home orders. This is rapidly accelerating the transition to e-commerce. Online shopping has been experiencing substantial growth over the past few years, with grocery being the least contributing category. However, in this current situation, the grocery category accounts for the largest share in the e-commerce orders. There has been a surge in the average daily downloads for popular digital grocery apps such as Instacart, Walmart Grocery, and Shipt. Households that are relying on home deliveries through online grocery shopping sites during the pandemic are likely to continue with the service then after. 

As a result of stockpiling, retailers are running out of stock, and the grocery shelves for popular items sit empty, which is eroding the consumers’ brand preferences. This is promoting the consumption of the products manufactured by small regional players. It will take time for the top market players to bridge the demand-supply gap, which can be a game-changing opportunity for local and new brands of ready-to-eat meals in the global market.