Instant noodles have benefited from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as stay-at-home Thai consumers turn to convenience foods including instant noodles. This trend has benefited instant noodle players like Mama. Vathit Chokwatana, president of Saha Pathanapibul Plc, the distributor of Mama instant noodles, said sales of its instant noodles rose 8% in the first quarter of 2020, reported infoquest.co.th.
As consumers are staying at home for an extended period of time and are looking for value-for-money offering, this has translated into higher growth for pack, up 20% during the first quarter of 2020, compared to cup, which grew by a mere 10%. Online has also thrived with sahapatdelivery.com reported a 100% growth in sales as consumers avoided going out.
Overall instant noodles sales in Thailand rose 5.8% to THB 19 billion in 2019, of which THB 14.2 billion is non-cup such as sachet and THB 4.8 billion in cup format. The company expects there is a possibility to see Thailand’s instant noodles sales reaching THB 22 billion for the first time in 2020, up 15.8%, said Vathit.
The company has partnered with the Commerce Ministry and leading retailers to launch “Commerce Sale! Helping Thai People With Mama Cup.” The campaign, which run until the end of May 2020, will see the price of its THB 13 cup noodle being slashed by 23% to THB 10 to help consumers to survive this difficult time, said Vathit.
