Key findings

Inflation continues to drive sales value growth

In 2024, sales of Staple Foods reached USD1.14 trillion, an increase of 3.7% year-on-year. While the inflation surges of 2022/23 are now in the past, headline inflation continues to run ahead of target in many key markets.

Volume grows, but not as fast as value

Prices have remained firmly front-of-mind when buying staple foods, hampering growth in volume sales, as consumers continue to have to spend more to buy their food. But increased uptake of private label and basic ranges, alongside shopping at discounters, did see volume sales grow 1.6% year-on-year.

Staple foods remains a highly fragmented industry

With the staple foods industry encompassing a wide range of foods, the competitive landscape is fragmented and the largest companies hold only small shares of overall sales. The leading company, Grupo Bimbo, held a 1.6% share of value in 2024, while the top 10 combined held just 6.6%.

Growth is forecast for the next five years

Staple food value sales are forecast to grow by 9.6% in constant value terms over the 2024-2029 period, slightly below volume growth of 10.7% in the same timeframe. By 2029, an estimated 322 million tonnes of staple foods will be sold at retail annually.

Baked goods suffers further commodity cost increases

Following on from the significant impact on grain of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, baked goods – the largest staple foods category – was subject to extreme cost pressures from sugar and cocoa. Extremely dry conditions/droughts hit key producing countries, with cocoa prices reaching all-time highs. Retail price increases saw sales value rise 8.2% year-on-year; volume rose by just 1.0%.