Research Report on the Global Frozen Cooked Noodles Market Development
Release date:2025-10-13 View count:420
Abstract:
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As a key segment in the convenient food industry, frozen cooked noodles have achieved steady growth in the global food market, leveraging their core advantages of balancing taste authenticity and consumption convenience. Based on market data trends from 2020 to 2031, this report systematically analyzes the development environment, scale status, regional pattern, competitive landscape, and future trends of the global frozen cooked noodles market. Data shows that the global frozen cooked noodles market reached a sales volume of USD 9.541 billion in 2024 and is projected to climb to USD 12.13 billion by 2031, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.5% from 2025 to 2031 . The Asia-Pacific region dominates with a 77% market share, while ramen serves as the core product type (accounting for 40%) and restaurants represent the largest downstream application scenario (accounting for 45%) . Currently, the market is influenced by multiple factors including tariff policies, consumption upgrading, and technological innovation. Chinese enterprises are accelerating their transformation from cost-dependent export to technology-brand dual-driven globalization, with emerging markets becoming new growth engines. Through multi-dimensional analysis, this report provides market decision-making references for industry participants.
Frozen cooked noodles refer to convenient food products that undergo pre-cooking processes such as dough mixing, shaping, and steaming, followed by rapid freezing technology (usually frozen to below -20°C within 20 minutes) to lock in freshness and texture, and finally packaged. Their core characteristics are reflected in the "Three Advantages and One Balance":
Texture: Achieving a high degree of similarity to freshly made noodles through technologies such as vacuum dough mixing and quick-freezing freshness preservation.
Convenience: Featuring ready-to-eat after thawing and quick meal preparation (30 seconds to 5 minutes), adapting to diverse scenario needs.
Shelf Life: Enabling a long shelf life of 6-12 months through cold chain storage.
Nutritional Balance: Compared with traditional fried instant noodles, they better retain the original nutrients of ingredients and can achieve healthy attributes such as low fat and high protein through formula optimization.
Based on differences in product forms and processes, global frozen cooked noodles can be mainly classified into three categories: first, traditional Asian flavor categories such as Japanese ramen and udon noodles, characterized by chewy texture and rich soup base matching; second, Western categories such as pasta and soba noodles, compatible with diverse sauces like cheese and tomato sauce; third, regional specialty categories such as Chinese knife-shaved noodles and Vietnamese pho, carrying local culinary cultural characteristics .
The development of the frozen cooked noodles industry is deeply bound to the advancement of food processing technology and changes in consumer lifestyles, which can be roughly divided into three stages:
Technology Embryonic Stage (Mid-20th Century - 1990s): Since the 1950s, with the initial application of quick-freezing technology in the European and American food industries, frozen noodles began to emerge, but products at this time were mainly frozen raw noodles, and the technology for cooked noodles was not yet mature. After the 1970s, Japanese enterprises such as Toyo Suisan Kaisha and Nissin Foods took the lead in breaking through the quick-freezing and fresh-keeping technology for cooked noodles, launching the first commercialized frozen cooked ramen, solving the industry problem of poor texture of pre-cooked noodles after freezing, and laying the technological foundation for modern frozen cooked noodles. During this period, the market was mainly concentrated in Japan and some developed countries in Europe and America, with household consumption as the main application scenario.
Rapid Growth Stage (Early 21st Century - 2019): The acceleration of global urbanization and the faster pace of life drove the surge in demand for convenient food. Frozen cooked noodles achieved rapid growth by virtue of their better texture advantage over instant noodles. During this stage, the Asian market emerged, with countries such as China and South Korea becoming the core of growth. Meanwhile, intensified industry competition prompted enterprises to focus on product flavor innovation and channel expansion, and B-end channels such as restaurants and convenience stores gradually became the main sales scenarios. The popularization of cold chain logistics technology provided support for cross-regional circulation of products.
Quality Upgrading Stage (2020 - Present): After the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers put forward higher requirements for the convenience, safety, and healthiness of food, driving the frozen cooked noodles industry towards quality and diversification transformation. Healthiness (low sodium, organic, functional), scenario-based (takeaway-specific, home quick meals), and localization (adapting to regional tastes) became the directions of product innovation. At the same time, changes in international trade policies prompted enterprises to restructure global supply chains, and market competition shifted from price wars to technology and brand competition.
International Trade Policies: The continuous escalation of U.S. tariff policies has had a significant impact on the global frozen cooked noodles supply chain. Export-oriented enterprises from China and other countries are facing problems such as surging export costs and restricted market access, forcing the industry to accelerate regional supply chain layout and diversified market expansion . The European Union has regulated market access through food labeling regulations (such as mandatory labeling of nutritional components) and food safety standards (Regulation EC 178/2002), imposing strict requirements on the production processes and raw material traceability of imported products.
Regional Industrial Policies: China has included frozen food in the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of agricultural product processing industry, encouraging enterprises to improve quick-freezing technology and cold chain logistics capabilities; Japan supports the development of local specialty frozen cooked noodles through the "Regional Food Industrialization" policy; Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Vietnam have attracted international enterprises to establish production bases by simplifying foreign investment approval procedures, promoting the development of the local market.
Health and Environmental Policies: Many places around the world have introduced salt and sugar reduction policies, such as the UK's "Voluntary Salt Reduction Agreement", prompting enterprises to optimize product formulas; the EU's plastic packaging recycling directive (EU 2019/904) has promoted the industry to adopt biodegradable packaging materials, forcing enterprises to carry out green production transformation.
Global Economic Pattern: The global economy has recovered unevenly in the post-pandemic era. Mature markets such as Europe and America have seen slowing growth, while emerging markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America have maintained economic growth of over 5%, driving the upgrading of local food consumption and providing incremental space for frozen cooked noodles. Data in 2024 shows that emerging markets contributed 40% of the global frozen cooked noodles market growth .
Resident Income Level: The global middle-class population continues to expand. In 2024, the middle-class population in the Asia-Pacific region exceeded 1.5 billion. Their willingness to pay for "convenient + quality" food has increased, driving the upgrading of frozen cooked noodles from mass consumer goods to mid-to-high-end products. In Europe and America, the per capita disposable income is relatively high, and consumers are more willing to pay a premium for organic and functional frozen cooked noodles (usually 30%-50% higher than ordinary products).
Supply Chain Costs: Fluctuations in international energy prices have affected the costs of quick-freezing production and cold chain transportation. From 2023 to 2024, the global cold chain logistics cost increased by an average of 12%; prices of major raw materials such as wheat and flour fluctuated greatly due to climate and geopolitical factors, squeezing enterprises' profit margins and forcing the industry to optimize cost control.
Changes in Consumption Habits: The rise of the "single-person economy" globally, with the proportion of single-person households reaching 28% in 2024, has created strong demand for small-portioned and easy-to-cook frozen cooked noodles; at the same time, the rapid development of the takeaway industry (the global takeaway market size reached USD 2.2 trillion in 2024) has spawned the demand for takeaway-specific frozen cooked noodles that "do not clump within 30 minutes" in restaurants.
Enhanced Health Awareness: Consumers' attention to the health attributes of food has increased significantly. "Clean labels" (no artificial additives), organic certification, high protein, and low GI (Glycemic Index) have become core purchasing indicators. QYResearch survey shows that the sales of healthy frozen cooked noodles worldwide increased by 18% year-on-year in 2024, far exceeding the industry average growth rate .
Integration of Dietary Cultures: Globalization has promoted the exchange of dietary cultures. Asian-flavored frozen cooked noodles have increased their penetration in European and American markets, such as Japanese ramen with a year-on-year growth rate of 15% in the U.S. market; at the same time, local taste improvement has become a trend, such as curry-flavored frozen cooked noodles developed for the Indian market and spicy corn cooked noodles adapted for the Mexican market.
Innovation in Production Technology: Vacuum dough mixing technology enables sufficient water absorption of flour, improving the chewy texture of noodles; ultra-low temperature quick-freezing technology (-40°C freezing) further shortens the freezing time, reduces cell damage, and improves the texture authenticity after thawing; aseptic production technology developed by enterprises such as Master Kong realizes "ready-to-eat after thawing", expanding product application scenarios.
Cold Chain Logistics Technology: The application of IoT technology in cold chains enables full-process temperature traceability of products, reducing the risk of spoilage; the use of new insulation materials reduces temperature fluctuations during transportation, allowing products to cover a wider area. In 2024, the global cold chain logistics informatization rate reached 65%, an increase of 20 percentage points compared with 2020.
R&D and Innovation Capabilities: Leading enterprises are accelerating flavor and formula innovation. For example, Nissin Foods has established a database of more than 200 flavors, and Master Kong can complete the development of customized sauce packets for customers within 2 weeks. At the same time, AI technology has begun to be applied in product R&D, analyzing consumer data to predict flavor trends and improve R&D efficiency.
The global frozen cooked noodles market has maintained steady growth. The market sales volume was approximately USD 7.83 billion in 2020 and exceeded USD 9.541 billion in 2024, representing a 21.8% increase over four years . In terms of growth drivers, the surge in household consumption demand during the pandemic from 2020 to 2022 drove rapid market growth (with a growth rate of 6.2% in 2021); after 2023, the recovery of the B-end restaurant channel became the main growth engine.
Looking ahead, driven by the expansion of emerging markets, product structure upgrading, and technological innovation, the market will continue to grow. It is expected that the CAGR from 2025 to 2031 will be 3.5%, and the market size will reach USD 12.13 billion by 2031 . In an optimistic scenario (emerging markets growing faster than expected and technological breakthroughs driving cost reduction), the market size is expected to reach USD 13 billion by 2031; in a conservative scenario (slowing global economic growth and intensified trade frictions), the market size may be USD 11.5 billion.
By Category: Ramen is the largest segmented category, accounting for 40% of the global market in 2024, mainly benefiting from the global popularity of Japanese ramen and the diversity of flavors (tonkotsu, soy sauce, miso, etc.) . Pasta ranks second with a proportion of approximately 25%, dominating the European and American markets; traditional categories such as soba noodles and udon noodles account for 20% in total; regional specialty categories (pho, knife-shaved noodles, etc.) account for 15% with the fastest growth rate (8% in 2024) .
By Quality Grade: Ordinary frozen cooked noodles still dominate (60% market share), but healthy upgraded products are growing rapidly. Among them, the sales of organic frozen cooked noodles increased by 22% year-on-year in 2024, low-fat and high-protein products increased by 18%, and clean-label products increased by 15%. The penetration rate of healthy products is higher in European and American markets (reaching 45%), while the Asia-Pacific market is still dominated by ordinary products, but the upgrading trend is obvious.
Restaurant Channel: With a 45% market share, it has become the largest application scenario, mainly because it can help restaurants reduce kitchen labor costs and improve meal preparation efficiency (shortened from the traditional 15-20 minutes of fresh preparation to 3-5 minutes) . Fast food chains and Japanese ramen restaurants are core customers. For example, 90% of the ramen products of Japan's Matsuya Chain use frozen cooked noodle bases.
Retail Channel: Supermarkets and convenience stores account for 35% in total, among which convenience stores have become core urban sales terminals by virtue of their immediacy advantage. The online retail channel is growing the fastest, accounting for 10% in 2024, an increase of 4 percentage points compared with 2020, mainly driven by the development of e-commerce platforms and community group buying .
Other Channels: Department stores account for 5%, mainly selling high-end gift box products; special channels (such as in-flight catering and corporate group meals) account for 5% with relatively stable demand.
Market Size and Status: In 2024, the sales volume of frozen cooked noodles in the Asia-Pacific region reached USD 7.346 billion, accounting for 77% of the global market share, making it the largest and fastest-growing regional market in the world . The region's large population base (accounting for 60% of the world's population), profound consumption foundation of noodles in dietary culture, and continuous improvement of urbanization rate provide core support for the market.
Performance of Major Countries:
Japan: As the origin of frozen cooked noodles, it has a highly mature market. In 2024, its sales volume reached USD 2.8 billion, accounting for 29.3% of the global market. The market is characterized by high brand concentration (the top five brands account for 60%) and refined products (such as special noodles adapted to different soup bases). Leading enterprises such as Toyo Suisan Kaisha and Nissin Foods lead technological innovation.
China: The market sales volume reached approximately USD 2.5 billion in 2024 with a growth rate of 5%, becoming the core growth engine in the Asia-Pacific region. The market presents the characteristics of "dominated by mass consumption and accelerated high-endization". Local enterprises such as Master Kong and Uni-President occupy a dominant position by virtue of channel advantages, while foreign brands are accelerating their layout in the high-end market. The strong demand in the takeaway channel drives the rapid growth of special products. For example, the annual sales of Master Kong's takeaway-specific frozen cooked noodles exceeded 100 million servings.
Southeast Asia: Countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia had a combined sales volume of USD 1.2 billion with a growth rate of 7%, becoming an emerging growth pole. The local dietary culture prefers noodles, and economic growth drives consumption upgrading. Chinese and Japanese enterprises have established production bases here one after another. For example, Nissin has set up a factory in Thailand to serve the ASEAN market.
Market Characteristics: Products are mainly Asian flavors (ramen, udon noodles, pho, etc.), with balanced development of B-end and C-end markets. The continuous improvement of cold chain logistics infrastructure is the key to future growth.
Market Size and Status: In 2024, the North American market sales volume reached USD 954 million, accounting for 10% of the global market share with an annual growth rate of approximately 3%, belonging to a mature and stable market. The United States is the core consumer country (accounting for 85% of the North American market), and Canada accounts for 15%.
Market Characteristics:
Diversified Product Structure: Pasta accounts for 40%, Japanese ramen accounts for 25%, and local flavors (such as American pasta) account for 35%; the penetration rate of healthy products is high, with organic and gluten-free products accounting for 50%.
Concentrated Channels: Supermarkets (such as Walmart) and online channels account for 70% in total. The restaurant channel is mainly composed of Japanese restaurants and fast food chains.
Competitive Pattern: Local brands and imported brands coexist. Japanese brands such as Nissin and Toyo Suisan Kaisha occupy the high-end market by virtue of the ramen category, while local brands focus on the mass market.
Growth Drivers: The diversification of dietary cultures brought by the immigrant population, enhanced health awareness, and the development of e-commerce are the main growth drivers.
Market Size and Status: In 2024, the European market sales volume reached USD 572 million, accounting for 6% of the global market share with an annual growth rate of 2.8%. Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are the main consumer countries, accounting for 70% of the European market in total.
Regional Characteristics:
Western European Market: Dominated by pasta (accounting for 60%). Consumers pay attention to product quality and origin, and organic certified products have strong premium capacity. Supermarkets are the main channels, and online penetration rate is gradually increasing.
Eastern European Market: With a growth rate of 4%, lower than that of emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific but higher than that of Western Europe. Products are mainly mid-to-low-end, and Chinese enterprises are gradually penetrating through cost-effective advantages.
Russian Market: Affected by geopolitics, local production and Asian imports have replaced European and American products, becoming a regional characteristic market.
Development Challenges: Slowing economic growth and high energy costs have pushed up production and cold chain costs, restricting market growth.
Middle East and Africa: The sales volume reached approximately USD 382 million in 2024, accounting for 4% of the global market share with a growth rate of 6.5%. The Gulf region (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates) has become the core market due to high income and a large number of foreign populations, preferring Japanese ramen and locally improved flavor products. The challenge lies in weak cold chain infrastructure and limited market coverage.
Latin America: The sales volume reached approximately USD 286 million, accounting for 3% of the global market share with a growth rate of 6%. Brazil and Mexico are the main markets. Local enterprises dominate the mass market, while imported brands focus on the high-end catering channel. The integration of dietary cultures promotes product innovation, such as spicy corn frozen cooked noodles being popular.
The global frozen cooked noodles market presents a "decentralized competition" pattern with low industry concentration. In 2024, the top five manufacturers (Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Shimadaya, Nissin Foods, TableMark, Nippn Corporation) accounted for approximately 11% of the global market share . Among them, the first tier (Toyo Suisan Kaisha, Nissin Foods) has a market share of 2.5%-3% each, the second tier (Shimadaya, TableMark, Nippn Corporation) has a market share of 1.5%-2% each, and the third tier and other small and medium-sized brands account for as high as 89%.
The main reasons for decentralized competition are: first, the large differences in regional dietary cultures, and local enterprises have more advantages in taste adaptation and channel coverage; second, the product threshold is relatively low, and small and medium-sized brands can easily gain a foothold in segmented markets; third, the personalized demand of B-end customers provides living space for small and medium-sized manufacturers.
Nissin Foods: A leading Japanese enterprise founded in 1948, with its global headquarters in Osaka. Its core advantages lie in technological R&D and brand influence. It has core technologies such as vacuum dough mixing and ultra-low temperature quick-freezing, and its products cover multiple categories such as ramen and udon noodles. It has a sound global layout with production bases in Japan, China, the United States, and Thailand. The global sales volume of frozen cooked noodles reached approximately USD 280 million in 2024. Its strategy focuses on the high-end market while accelerating the expansion of healthy products and emerging markets .
Toyo Suisan Kaisha: A well-known Japanese food enterprise founded in 1948, with frozen food as its core business. Its frozen cooked noodle products are characterized by Japanese ramen, and it occupies a leading position in the Japanese market by virtue of the advantage of rich soup base matching. The global sales volume reached approximately USD 270 million in 2024. Its overseas market is mainly concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, and it has begun to layout production bases in Southeast Asia in recent years to cope with trade barriers .
Master Kong: A leading local Chinese enterprise. Relying on 30 years of food R&D experience, it has made a breakthrough in the frozen cooked noodles field with the B-end market as the entry point. Its core product is takeaway-specific frozen cooked noodles, which occupy a leading position in China's takeaway channel by virtue of the technological advantage of "not clumping within 30 minutes". The sales volume of frozen cooked noodles reached approximately USD 250 million in 2024. Its strategy adopts "technology empowering catering + localization innovation", while laying out the Southeast Asian market relying on the "Belt and Road Initiative".
Shimadaya: A Japanese enterprise specializing in noodle products, founded in 1865. Its frozen cooked noodle products are good at traditional categories such as soba noodles and udon noodles. Relying on a century of craftsmanship accumulation, it has a stable customer base in the Japanese local market. The global sales volume reached approximately USD 180 million in 2024. Its overseas market expansion is relatively cautious, mainly entering the high-end catering channel in Europe and America through export .
Nippn Corporation: A large Japanese grain processing enterprise. It entered the frozen cooked noodles market by virtue of raw material advantages, and its products take high-quality flour as the core selling point. The global sales volume reached approximately USD 170 million in 2024. Its customers are mainly catering chains and food processing enterprises, and it adopts an integrated "raw material + finished product" service model to enhance customer stickiness .
Supply Chain Optimization: Facing tariff and cost pressures, leading enterprises are accelerating the layout of "regional manufacturing centers + localized production". For example, Chinese enterprises set up factories in Southeast Asia to serve the ASEAN market, and Japanese enterprises set up factories in North America to avoid trade barriers. At the same time, digital management is used to optimize cold chain logistics and reduce loss rates.
Product Differentiation: Transforming from single products to "scenario-based + healthy" products. Special products are developed for different scenarios such as takeaway, home, and catering; healthy series such as organic, low-fat, and gluten-free products are launched, such as Nissin's "low-sodium ramen" and Master Kong's "high-protein soba noodles".
Market Diversification: Deepening high-endization in mature markets and seizing shares in emerging markets. European and American enterprises focus on product quality upgrading, while Chinese and Japanese enterprises accelerate the development of emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, achieving breakthroughs by adapting to local tastes.
Channel Deep Cultivation: In the B-end market, catering customers are bound through "technology empowerment + customized services", such as Master Kong providing customized sauce packets for catering customers; in the C-end market, online-offline integration is strengthened, and penetration rate is improved relying on e-commerce platforms and community group buying.
