Healthy ageing FFCs bringing strong revenue growth for Suntory’s health foods business in Japan
The Japanese food and beverage giant said that its health and wellness products, namely Locomore and Omega A.D.E – which are both designed for healthy ageing, had posted six per cent yoy revenue growth during financial year 2022 (FY22).
Aside from Japan, Suntory also operates its health supplement business in other parts of Asia, including South East Asia and the Greater China region.
Locomore is mainly designed for healthy middle-aged and elderly men and women experiencing problems with their knee joints.
It claims to maintain walking ability and support joint movement, which weaken with age, through the use of four key active ingredients.
The key ingredients are 1,200mg of glucosamine hydrochloride, 60mg of chondroitin sulfare, 90mg of quercetin glycoside, and 10mg of anserine per day.
These ingredients are marine-derived. For instance, chondroitin is derived from sharks and salmon.
On the other hand, Omega A.D.E. refers to Omega arachidonic acid (ARA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
It is also a FFC that claims to “improve memory accuracy” in the elderly.
“For the health and wellness products business, products such as Locomore and Omega A.D.E. posted strong revenue, growing by six per cent year on year,” the firm said.
Against the backdrop of a declining beverage market due to price revisions, the firm said it aimed to increase its sales volume by focusing on health products, including Locomore, Omega A.D.E., and lyemon Tokucha – a Food for Specified Health Use (FOSHU) that claims to aid the breakdown of stored body fat.
Focus will also be placed on other core beverage brands, namely Tennensui, BOSS, lyemon, and Green.Da.Ka.Ra.
“In the health-conscious product category, including Tokucha, we will continue marketing activities to propose new values and promote their attractiveness as high value-added products,” Kazuhiro Saito, president and CEO said.
In Japan, the company recorded a revenue of JPY$653.2 bn (US$4.86bn) for its food and beverage business, a yoy growth of 3.7 per cent in FY22.
Including other markets, its revenue in this category was up 14.3 per cent yoy to JPY$1.45 tr (US$10.8bn).
Asia-Pacific
On the other hand, due to inflation, the firm’s health supplement business in Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, had shrunk 3.1 per cent yoy to JPY$37.1 bn.
BRANDʼS Essence of Chicken product is one of the core supplements sold by the company in APAC.
“While the sales trend slowed from the third quarter, partly due to deteriorating consumer sentiment caused by high inflation, we intensified our activities in line with the product renewal [of BRAND’S Essence of Chicken] in October,” Saito said.
The company said it would continue to bolster marketing activities for BRAND’S Essence of Chicken.
Energy drinks
The energy drinks category is another key revenue source for the company, especially in Vietnam, New Zealand, and Australia.
In Vietnam, sales volume energy drink brand Sting had increased substantially, resulting in an expanded market share, the firm said.
In Oceania, marketing activities were enhanced for energy drink V, in turn led to an increase in year-on-year sales volume growth, especially in Q4 of FY22.
“In Oceania, by strengthening our marketing activities on the energy drink V, a core brand, sales volumes in New Zealand and Australia continued at levels higher than the previous fiscal year,” the firm said.
