Hot Right Now: Palm oil drama, 2023 top emerging categories, Nestle paper packaging pilot and more trending news feature in our round-up

Palm oil trade war? South East Asia gears up to fight back against EU deforestation regulation​

Major South East Asian palm oil producer countries are gearing up to retaliate against the European Union’s controversial deforestation regulation, with the situation rapidly devolving to the point that a trade war could be on the horizon.

The European Union (EU) parliament approved its long-debated deforestation regulation last year, and has not budged on its position despite long-time opposition from many producer countries worldwide, especially palm oil producing nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia in the ASEAN region.

Previously the two palm oil heavyweights had been less consistent in their approach opposing the deforestation regulation, but given the recent developments as well as Malaysia’s change of government, much stronger co-operation appears to be on the cards. Most prominently, the governments of both nations have recently mentioned considering simply cutting off palm oil trade with the EU, given its strong negativity to the commodity.

Up-and-coming: Three emerging categories to watch for food industry growth in 2023​

As the Asia Pacific region learns to navigate multiple challenges including the economic fallout of COVID-19 as well as ongoing geopolitical conflicts, the food and beverage industry still continues to flourish and we believe these three emerging categories will take their place in the spotlight in 2023.

Paper power: Nestle moves plastic reduction ambitions one step closer to APAC region with Australia pilot​

Nestle has moved one step closer towards its ambitions to reduce plastic packaging in the APAC region with its latest announcement of a paper packaging trial for chocolate in Australia, though its suitability for Asia’s hot and humid climate still remains to be seen.

Food and beverage giant Nestle has long been vocal of its ambitions to tackle plastic packaging usage and reduce the use of this in the name of sustainability, but the majority of such innovations, including those coming out of its international packaging science institute, have been targeted mainly at markets with colder climates e.g. Europe and the United States.

A major limiting factor for the firm to bring similar new innovations into the Asia Pacific region is the tropical hot and humid climate here.

Top F&B trends 2023: Tyson, Thai Union, McCormick, Nestle, Carlsberg and more on what to expect in the year ahead​​

We have spoken to major brands from across the Asia Pacific region to reveal the five top trends set to shape the food and beverage industry in 2023, including demands for convenient product formats, rising interest in spicy flavours, an affordability-driven focus and more.

ASEAN food sector outlook 2023: Post-COVID-19 growth in Indonesia, Vietnam dampened by food security and inflation woes​

Many South East Asian countries remain cautious and concerned over food insecurity and rising inflationary costs despite having seen stellar post-COVID-19 growth in multiple food categories.

The ASEAN food and beverage sector saw varying ups and downs during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with sectors such as alcohol taking a hit in some markets like Malaysia, and others such as snack foods and tinned goods seeing monumental growth amidst consumer stockpiling and switching to eating or cooking more at home.