Asia’s food sector needs $ 800 b investment over 10 years

Friday, 22 November 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Asia’s food and agriculture industry needs an investment of $ 800 billion over the next 10 years to meet the region’s growing food demand, a jointly produced report showed on Wednesday.

Investments will unlock annual market growth of around 7%, with the region more than doubling its spending on food to more than $ 8 trillion by 2030, according to the report by consultancy PwC, Rabobank and Singapore state investor Temasek.

Asia’s growing population and rising incomes are resulting in higher demand for protein-rich foods which require investment in the setting up of food supply chains.

The report, titled The Asia Food Challenge, sees several Asian cities, such as Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore and Tokyo, having the potential to become agriculture-food tech hubs.

The report said the Singapore Food Agency has set a goal to produce 30% of the country’s nutritional needs by 2030 by adopting new solutions and technologies to grow more with less.