Unveiling Dairy Drink Trends in Asia: Exploring Consumer Insights for Functional Beverages

Health, Convenience, and Flavor Drive Dairy Drink Trends in Asia

Asia’s dairy industry has evolved tremendously. The consumer nourished by traditional milk and yogurt as a child can today savor a wide variety of flavors of ready-to-drink (RTD) milk and yogurt drinks—for breakfast, breaks, or anytime—that offer on-the-go convenience while supporting a healthy lifestyle. 

Here, we examine the factors driving today’s dairy drink trends in Asia and the exciting opportunities ahead.

Introduction to Asia's Dairy Market

China dominates Asia’s thriving dairy market, with India and Japan following as the region's demand for dairy grows. Demand has been fueled by consumers' increasing preference for protein-rich diets that promote overall health and wellness and a strong interest in probiotic drinks to boost immunity. 

As consumers seek healthier options, dairy has a key advantage over other foods and beverages. Dairy products contain several nutrients and functional ingredients in high demand by Asian consumers—including calcium, protein, vitamins, and probiotics. Product claims around these attributes provide strong appeal, as they emphasize dairy’s multiple health and nutrition benefits. 

Consumer Behavior: What Drives Dairy Drink Choices?

Within the dairy category, RTD dairy drinks provide the benefits of convenience and on-the-go consumption that fit exceptionally well with today’s busy lifestyles. In dairy drinks, protein, which supports health, workouts, and satiety, holds particular appeal to consumers, as does added functional ingredients. 

Protein claims influence one in three consumers, while one in four is influenced by functional ingredients when purchasing a milk drink.¹ A similar trend is seen for drinkable and spoonable yogurts, in which one in four consumers looks at protein claims and about one in five looks at functional ingredients.²

The Rise of Functional Beverages

Dairy drinks with added functional ingredients are considered functional beverages. A functional beverage provides beneficial effects beyond basic nutrition, ranging from immune, digestive, and heart health support to more immediate needs like energy, relaxation, or focus.

For over half (53%) of Asian consumers, health aspects have become more important when choosing beverages and foods over the past twelve months.³ Feeling well and aging well are the top drivers for leading a healthy lifestyle, and health and wellness are the leading spending priorities after living essentials.⁴ 

With so many consumers taking action to live more healthily, functional beverages are a valuable self-care option that offers nutrition, health benefits, and taste enjoyment. Adding functional ingredients to milk and yogurt drinks provides an opportunity to elevate their healthy image further.

Exploring Drinking Yogurts: Flavor Innovation Ramps Up

While healthiness matters, so too does flavor—especially for yogurt drinks. Flavor influences nearly half (46%) of Asian consumers when buying drinkable or spoonable yogurt, while only 40% are influenced by health.⁵ Though the most popular yogurt flavors continue to be strawberry, mango, blueberry, vanilla, and peach, flavor innovation is on the rise.

One brand using innovative flavors to excite consumers is New Hope. Novel flavors showing up in recent yogurt drink launches in China include New Hope Fermented Milk Drinks in Kumquat and Jasmine, White Peach and Oolong, and Matsutake Mushroom.⁶

The Future of Dairy Drinks

The dairy drink trends in Asia highlight the strong relevance of dairy to consumers’ healthy lifestyle goals and the appeal of the RTD format for on-the-go convenience. Looking ahead, significant growth opportunities exist in dairy drinks with added nutritional and functional benefits, along with innovative flavor offerings.

Our comprehensive portfolio of dairy-based proteins, bioactive ingredients, and custom premix solutions can help you formulate the dairy drinks of the future. Contact Glanbia Nutritionals to formulate your next dairy drink wherever you are in Asia!

References

1-4. Innova Market Insights, Now & Next in Functional Beverages in South & Southeast Asia, August 2024.
5-6. Innova Market Insights, Flavorful Wellness: What’s New in Drinking Yogurt in Asia?, January 2024.