With population increasing at a rapid pace in cities especially the capital and citizens becoming

increasingly busy young adults, couples and with the advent of nuclear families (with working
parents) mean that the demand for ready to cook convenience food is on the rise. The city
dwellers and households are progressively adapting to frozen foods (not only protein- like fish
and meats but also vegetables as well). Additionally, the marketing campaigns of the frozen food
companies in Bangladesh have spurred an increase in demand.
Market Overview
The frozen foods domestic market in Bangladesh can be broadly divided into four broad
segments

Frozen Ready to Cook Snacks This includes both meat and fish based snacks like
chicken nuggets, meat ball, strips, fish ball, fish cakes and vegetable based snacks like
Aloo Puri, Dap Puri, Samosa, Singara and Spring Roll.

Frozen Ready to Cook Meat This includes frosted whole chickens, lambs, mutton and
beef. These are currently available at super markets and order based by institutional
buyers like restaurants and fast food shops.

Frozen Ready to Cook Vegetables This includes frosted vegetables like Bean Seeds,
Kakrol, Patol, Ladies Finger and Jack Fruit Seeds.

Frozen Ready to Cook Fishes Lastly ready to cook fishes has also become popular.
Currently the market includes Hilsha, Koi, Pabda, Keski, Mola, Foli, Baila, Batashi and
Ayer.

Market Trends
Frozen foods: The cold chain industry worldwide is growing at a rapid pace. The world is
becoming more and more urbanized which supports the convenience food culture. The global
frozen food industry recorded close to 4% growth in 2010 exceeding $192 billion. The market is
expected to see 19% expansion over next five years exceeding $228 billion by end of 2015. In
terms of volume the market is expected to exceed 14% growth in the same period to reach almost
43.5 billion kilograms. Frozen meat represents the leading segment, accounting for more than
41% of the overall market in terms of value. Europe accounts for 37.6% of the global frozen
food market value. For Bangladesh plausible lucrative export destinations are USA, Canada,
Australia, Middle-East and Europe.

Source: LightCastle Research

The domestic frozen foods market is also growing at a rapid pace with the expansion being
almost 30% in 2011-12 over the preceding fiscal year. Currently, the market is projected to be at
BDT 2,680 million+. Even if the existing growth persists, current size of the market would be
BDT 3,400 million+.
Frozen Chickens: Demand for poultry demand has increased over the years with rising per
capita income. According to latest BBS statistics as of 2010-11, Bangladesh produced
approximately 2 million metric tons of meat, including poultry and livestock. Meat processing in
industrial plants is a very recent addition to the food processing industry in Bangladesh. Only
one modern beef processing facility and ten poultry processing facilities are currently in
operation. Overall processed, meat constitute approximately less than one percent of total meat
production (Source: Global Agriculture Information network, Mar13).
Frozen chickens are mostly available through high end super stores charging premium pricing.
Another market is the B2B segment catering to major fast food chains. BRAC poultry is the
major player processing 5,000 chickens per day and supplying to major fast-food joint including
KFC, BFC and CFC. Other major players include CP Group, Kazi Group, Aftab Poultry, Paragon
and United food.
The diagram below illustrates the value chain for frozen chicken market where products are
directly transferred from poultry firms to dressing facility for onward processing. Once
processed, the dressed chickens are packaged and stored in chilled warehouse; subsequently
moving to end point for sales.

Competitive Landscape
Apart from the few imported brands like McCain, Lamb Weston, Doux and range of imported
frozen goods from Al Kabeer Group, the local brands have penetrated the market in a large scale.
Below is the snapshot of the market share.
Competitive Scenario: Bangladesh Frozen Foods Market

Source: Golden Harvest Primary Research

Though Golden Harvest and Rich have a high assortment of products and are the largest players,
however Aftab, BRAC and CP are big players in the processed chicken market. Kazi has recently
forayed into the market and time will tell whether they can successfully grab market share.
Frozen food sector shows promise considering steadily increasing per capita income, changing
family structure (nuclear) and change in taste and fashion. Although several large players have
successfully penetrated the market, opportunities lie in outside Dhaka and Chittagong where the
frozen chain is improving.
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