China Business Daily (Reporter Ma Jiawen/Picture)Compared with the doubling of last year’s performance, in the third quarter of this year, the life of the leading enterprises in the fast-frozen food track is obviously not easy. In the first three quarters of this year, three of the “four leading companies” of Sanquan Foods, Anjing Foods, Haixin Foods, and Huifa Foods experienced significant performance declines. Yasui Foods, the only company that has achieved both revenue and net profit growth, is also using price increases to stabilize its current results. According to industry insiders, in the current product category and selling price of quick-frozen food with serious homogeneity, the contestants of the quick-frozen food track may also find it difficult to stand out in the fourth quarter.
A quick-frozen food cabinet in a supermarket
The quick-frozen food industry as a whole is cold
“Our family is not the only one that is not easy to sell. The orders for frozen food in the surrounding booths have decreased compared with last year.” At a recent catering industry exhibition, the sales staff of Miss Brand’s booth told the China Business Daily that last year At that time, he received one order after another at the exhibition, but this year’s booth was rarely visited. According to his understanding, the business of other booth brands next door is as deserted as their own brands.
The phenomenon of quick-frozen food companies getting cold at the exhibition may be a microcosm of the quick-frozen food industry in the first three quarters of this year. In the first three quarters of this year, five of the seven A-share listed quick-frozen food companies experienced a decline in performance, and two reported losses. Among the “Big Four” of quick-frozen foods, except for the “double growth” of revenue and net profit achieved by Anjing Foods, the results of Sanquan Foods, Haixin Foods, and Huifa Foods are all ugly. Among them, Huifa Food suffered the most losses, with a loss of 87,588,100 yuan in the first three quarters.
“From the perspective of sales in the past two years, different brands have some meanings of’same honor and disgrace, sharing adversity’.” The above salesperson said that according to what he understands, the industry is now in a situation where either everyone has a good performance or everyone has a poor performance. In a good situation, no brand of products has been particularly outstanding in sales this year.
From the perspective of industry insiders, in the long run, there is still room for the “potential” of head-frozen food companies to develop. Food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng told China Business Daily that the quick-frozen food industry has entered a relatively slow development stage. After the high profit period brought about by the new crown pneumonia epidemic has passed, the current performance of quick-frozen food companies may become the norm in the industry. However, the concentration of the quick-frozen food industry is relatively high. With the increase in demand from channels such as takeaway, the leading enterprises of quick-frozen food companies still have more advantages than small and medium-sized enterprises and have greater potential for performance growth.
Drive performance or will rely on price increases
It is worth noting that the current leading companies in the quick-frozen food industry are not having a good time. In terms of performance, in the first three quarters of this year, Yasui Foods, which mainly sells quick-frozen surimi products and quick-frozen meat products, has clearly won. Sanquan Foods and Haixin Foods have achieved a year-on-year increase of more than 30% in revenue and net profit. , Huifa Food is far behind. In the case of better performance than competitors, Yasui Foods still chose to increase prices.
“Although Yasui Foods has made good profits this year, its new product promotion effect has not met expectations. The decline in consumer demand in the quick-frozen food market and the increase in raw material prices have also compressed some of the profits.” An agricultural product analyst at a securities institution told a Chinese business. Reporter, Anjing Foods is currently in an active expansion stage, and its performance in the fourth quarter may decline due to the above factors. Founder Securities also pointed out in the research report that due to rising raw material costs, increased proportion of low-margin dishes and low cost base last year, Yasui Foods’ third-quarter profit was lower than market expectations.
Faced with pressure, Yasui Foods took the lead in raising prices. On November 1, Yasui Foods stated that the company would reduce or increase the sales price of some of its quick-frozen surimi products, quick-frozen dishes and quick-frozen rice and noodle products, with the price adjustment ranging from 3% to 10%. The new price From November 1, 2021, it will be implemented in accordance with the price adjustment notice of each product.
Other quick-frozen food companies have also raised prices, but judging from the decline in performance of many quick-frozen food companies in the third quarter, the effect of the “disguised price increase” strategy may not be obvious. “At the beginning of September, some quick-frozen food companies have already reduced their promotional activities.” A quick-frozen food distributor in Beijing told reporters: “In the case of a substantial decrease in sales, the company has reduced promotional activities and reduced product packaging capacity. “
Is the fourth quarter performance expected to improve?
Will the public price increase of Yasui Foods trigger a price increase in the quick-frozen food industry? “After the price increase of Anjing Foods, other quick-frozen food companies may also increase their prices.” The above-mentioned agricultural product analyst told a reporter from China Business Daily: “Anjing Foods’ price increase before Sanquan Foods has already put pressure on other competitors in the industry. If other companies of the same type do not raise prices, profits will be further compressed, and fourth-quarter results will hardly be bright.”
For quick-frozen food companies, can price increases drive the performance of the fourth quarter? “At present, terminal consumption is decreasing. In the case that consumers don’t like to buy, the price increase of products may further reduce sales.” The above-mentioned distributor said that the fourth quarter is the peak season for hot pot consumption, and consumers are eating hot pot. He doesn’t pay much attention to the price of hot pot ingredients, and now he counts on hot pot and other catering channels to boost sales.
In addition, some people in the industry said that the fourth-quarter performance of quick-frozen food companies may be affected by homogeneous competition, and it is more difficult to break out of fierce competition. Zhu Danpeng told reporters that the products, channels, consumer groups, and scenes of the quick-frozen food industry are homogenized. Few consumers will have a strong sense of dependence on a certain brand of products, which has also led to the current market Frozen food is relatively lack of uniqueness and core competitiveness. Companies that can innovate their own products and channels are expected to gain an advantage in the competition.
At present, in addition to raising prices, leading companies in the quick-frozen food industry are also actively deploying channels and products, striving to maintain their performance in the last quarter of this year. Sanquan Foods stated that the company will also increase the research and development and promotion of new categories and new varieties on the basis of traditional products, increase research and development of new products around multiple consumption scenarios, promote product structure adjustment, and diversify the development of channels. Haixin Foods said that the company will add more than a hundred new sinking customers, covering most provinces (regions and cities) in the country, as well as a sales network at the county level and even at the township and town level. Huifa Foods said that it is increasing the research and development and production of convenience foods and pre-made dishes. In the fourth quarter, can the performance of quick-frozen food companies reproduce the glory of last year? China Business Daily reporters will continue to pay attention.Return to Sohu to see more
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