Vietnamese consumers seek out low-sugar products

Vietnamese people are paying greater attention to low-sugar products, with 1.55 million discussions on social media in 2020-2022, according to a report by Kompa, a local social listening firm.

According to the report, there were 544,124 discussions in 2020, 524,605 in 2021, and 483,072 in the first nine months of this year. Kompa attributed the trend of low-sugar products to the Covid-19 pandemic, which prompted consumers to use “healthier” goods, especially after the release of information on Covid-19 patients with diabetes facing higher risks of fatalities.

Kompa said the discussions mostly focused on low-sugar food recipes, dairy products, weight reduction with low-sugar foods, review of low-sugar dishes, and influencers promoting low-sugar products.

The report also showed that Facebook was the most popular platform with 96.8% of the discussions, followed by news with 2.7%, and other platforms (like YouTube, forums) with 0.5%.

Most popular key words were yogurt, fresh milk, nut milk, juice, fruits, and Greek yogurt, in terms of products. For complimentary low-sugar goods, major key words were cereals, honey, oats, granola seeds, and fruits. Notable brands featured Vinamilk, TH true MILK, La Vie, Yakult, and Probi.

Major brands in Vietnam have been promoting less-sugar products. Vinamilk, the biggest milk producer in the country, debuted its less-sugar product Probi Light drinking yogurt in March 2020 and Vinamilk Green Farm less-sugar fresh milk in September 2020. Nestle launched its less-sugar Milo milk in 2019.

Soft drink firms have also expanded production of less-sugar items. Heinz is selling less-sugar biscotti with apple and strawberry flavors in Vietnam. Coca-Cola is promoting its original less-sugar taste drinks. La Vie emphasizes its sparkling flavored water as a less sugar product. Japan's Calbee also sells its less-sugar cereals in Vietnam.