In 2024, the Asia Pacific region accounted for 40% of the US$35.157 billion global frozen fruits market (see Chart 1.0) and is expected to remain as the largest regional market in the future with stable 5% growth annually.
The Insights Partners attributed the growth to shifting consumer preferences toward convenient and healthy food options, apart from the general increase in demand for smoothies, health drinks, snacks and meal ingredients that incorporate frozen fruits.
By definition, frozen fruits refer to harvested fruits that are washed, peeled or sliced and then undergo quick freezing usually via the IQF technology which helps to preserve the fruits’ texture, taste, color as well as nutrients.
In addition, frozen fruits also offer consistent availability especially for seasonal fruits, as well as support food waste reduction as fruits are perishable products. The UN FAO highlighted that approximately 14% of all food produced is discarded as wastes, representing a huge loss of US$400 billion annually. Frozen fruits help to solve some of this challenge by extending the shelf life of fruit products.
Currently, market players include large multinationals like Dole Food, Kerry etc, as well as regional processors and private label brands.
In Southeast Asia specifically, the market for frozen fruits is forecast to grow as cold chain capacity is expected to grow 15% annually in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam, removing a big distribution hurdle.
By category or type of fruits, tropical fruits dominate the frozen fruit market followed by berries, strawberries and mangoes. Meanwhile, the ‘conventional’ segment held the largest share of the market with 86.3% while the ‘organic’ segment held the remainding 13.7%.
In terms of application or end-use, the frozen fruits market can be segmented into food processing, bakery and confectionery, dairy and frozen desserts to QSR and convenience stores amongst others. The food processing sector utilises the most of the production (in volume terms) with 30.2% share in 2024 followed by bakery & confectionery (13.2%), and dairy and frozen desserts (7.4%). (see Chart 2.0)
