The Chinese instant noodles industry continues to recover, reflecting a payoff of manufacturers' innovation and confidence building among consumers amid a slowdown in the pace of growth of takeaways and online ordering, according to the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST).
China sold 4.5 per cent more instant noodles in terms of packing units in the first half of this year, while its sales value at factory-gate prices went up by 8.6 per cent year on year, said Professor Meng Suhe (中国食品科学技术学会理事长孟素荷), a senior official with CIFST at the 18th China Convenience Food Convention in Beijing on 6-7 September.
The industry reached a peak in 2013 with total sales reaching 46.22 billion pouches, cups and bowls. The mature industry declined consecutively to 38.52 billion bowls, packs and cups in 2016, but recovered to 38.92 billion units in 2017.
In terms of tonnage, the decline appeared less dramatic as the downward slide occured only in 2014 and 2015, as the industry managed to overtake the peak of 2013, 10.3 million tons, to stand at 11.04 million tons in 2016, a level that the following year maintained.
The decline was due to fewer farmers choosing to leave their home regions for coastal regions for job opportunities (the total number of migrant workers peaked in 2012), a fast development of expressways, trains and air transport, which have significantly shortened the amount of time needed on the road and thus reduced need for food on the go, the growing presence of prepared meals particularly in trains, and a rapid growth in online food and meals ordering.
Manufacturers vied in tapping ideas from the vast amount of local snacks in new product development. Some tried to be functional as well, as in the example of Nissin Food, which introduced series of instant noodles that claim to contain more fibers and less calories. Since 2012 Master Kong has allowed visitors to observe the whole process of instant noodle making in a museum constructed for this purpose.
Henan Province produced 4.22 million tons of instant noodles in 2017, doubling that of its northern neighbour of Hebei Province. Hunan Province followed with a production volume of 1.04 million tons.
China's 2017 production volume more than tripled that of Indonesia and exceeded the combined total of Indonesia, Japan, India, Vietnam, the United States of America, the Philippines and Korea.
Instant noodles first appeared in Japan in 1958. China started industrial production of instant noodles in Shanghai and Xiamen in 1971. ###
【中文摘要】方便面行业从包（杯、桶等）数来看，2013年开创了历史最高纪录，之后下滑，到2016年触底，随后开始复苏；从吨位来看，下滑仅发生在2014-5两年，2016年就已经恢复元气，并再创吨位新高。包数少了，但平均份量大了，品种和概念也多了，甚至推出了每桶143克的家庭装方便面。
作者是汕头东峰消费品首席研究员、上海弘章资本食品与农业高级顾问、国际并购整合联盟（PMI）行业分析师，与多家FA机构和直投机构有着广泛深入的合作（包含股权架构设计、商业计划书写作指导和ICO中英文白皮书的写作等具体业务）。
I'm an independent industry analyst and, consultant to Eastern Peak Consumption, Charisma Partners and some other investment funds.