Soft Drink and Pre-Packaged Food Wholesaling in New Zealand - Industry Market Research Report

Fizzled out: Lockdown measures on food services firms have flattened demand and growth

Soft drink and pre-packaged food wholesaling has slowly declined over the past five years. Increasing wholesale bypass trends and rising competition from general line grocery wholesalers has been the main driver. Revenue is expected to drop at an average annual rate of 0.6% through the end of 2023-24, to $6.8 billion. Demand from hospitality businesses has been volatile, impacted by pandemic lockdown measures imposed on downstream food services firms have restricted demand from this market over the three years through 2021-22. Trading restrictions have since eased, allowing non-essential businesses to operate. As a result, the industry is expected to grow by 2.0% in 2023-24.

Industry operators wholesale specific grocery or food items that are not classified elsewhere, such as confectionery, snack foods, beverages, canned food and cooking oils. These goods are generally purchased from upstream manufacturers and resold to downstream industries including supermarkets, convenience stores and food service establishments. Businesses that sell a range of general merchandise, such as those selling three or more product lines, are excluded from the industry.

This report covers the scope, size, disposition and growth of the industry including the key sensitivities and success factors. Also included are five year industry forecasts, growth rates and an analysis of the industry key players and their market shares.