Page 31 - FoodFocusThailand No.176 November 2020

SPECIAL FOCUS

2. Currently, Thailand remains coconut milk and coconut juice. There are also opportunities for Jasmine rice, whole grains,
the 1 largest producer of pineapple fruit juice, dried fruit, herbal tea, and snacks, etc.
st
juice in the United States. During 6. American consumers recently look out for functional drinks which benefit consumers’
January-May 2020, Thailand has health. Thai producers perhaps develop a fruit juice mixed with Thai herbs to gain health
reached 27.38% of market share. properties, for example, turmeric, tamarind, and monk fruit (luohan guo), etc. The new product
However, the Thai market share development may lead a new sale to Thai fruit juice in the future.
tends to decline due to the fierce
competition from Costa Rica and the
Philippines in which the productions
can be done in large scale with lower
cost. In addition, Costa Rica stays
advantage over Thailand in term of
lower logistics cost because of a
shorter distance to the United
States. Therefore, it is possible that
Thailand may lose the pineapple
juice market share to Costa Rica and
the Philippines in the near future.
3. Viewing fruit juice products in
U.S. market, China is 2 rank
nd
(followed by Thailand in No.4.) Due
to the trade war between China and
the United States, trading between
two countries become more
complicated. Therefore, there is an
opportunity for Thai producers to
penetrate wider in U.S. market in the
future, especially for coconut juice
which has increasingly been
impressive to American consumers.
4. Due to the consumer behavior
changed in U.S. market, the
conventional fruit juice processing
with flavor additive and sugar added
becomes unattractive. Therefore,
Thai producers should focus to
develop products to meet the
consumer requirement when the
new generation demands their
products more hygienic, fresh, and
safe. In addition, the environmentally
friendly packaging can gain more
consumer’s acceptance.
5. Currently, American
consumers look out for foods which
have health benefits both physically
and mentally, for instance organic,
natural, and functional food products,
etc. Therefore, it should be the
opportunity for Thai producers to
develop the products to gain market
share in those particular sectors.
Thailand potential products in
organic and natural foods are

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