The prepared foods market in 2023 hit full recovery in Japan. Japan can be the best new market to learn for particularly in the realm of hot deli items.

The prepared foods market in 23 hit a full recovery, reaching ¥10.9827 trillion, up 106.4% from pre-pandemic levels.

According to the “2024 Edition Prepared Foods White Paper” issued by the Japan Prepared Foods Association on June 1, the prepared foods market in 23 reached ¥10.9827 trillion, up 104.9% from the previous year and fully recovered to 106.4% compared to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

By format, convenience stores (“CVS”) saw a 5.6% increase to ¥3.4631 trillion, “food supermarkets” increased by 5.7% to ¥3.2586 trillion, and “prepared foods specialty stores” increased by 3.9% to ¥2.9426 trillion, together accounting for 88% of the total market. Other formats saw increases as well, with “general supermarkets” up 4.4% to ¥975.4 billion and “department stores” up 2.2% to ¥343.1 billion, contributing to an overall positive year-on-year trend across all formats.

In terms of market share by format, “CVS” increased its share by 0.2 percentage points to 31.5%, while “food supermarkets” increased by 0.3 percentage points to 29.7%. “General supermarkets” remained steady at 8.9%. However, “prepared foods specialty stores” saw a decrease of 0.3 percentage points to 26.8%, and “department stores” experienced a decrease of 0.1 percentage points to 3.1%.

Source:Japan Ready-made Meal Association,  Gekiryu news May 17th 2024.