Japan Food & Beverage: U.S. Nielsen Monthly (May 16, 2026): Seasonings strong; frozen foods lagging

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Japan Food & Beverage: U.S. Nielsen Monthly (May 16, 2026): Seasonings strong; frozen foods lagging

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Japan Food & Beverage

U.S. Nielsen Monthly (May 16, 2026):

Seasonings strong; frozen foods lagging

Industry Overview

26 May 2026

Seasonings solid; instant noodles showing improvement; Equity

frozen foods lagging Japan

This note reviews sales trends of Japanese food manufacturers in the U.S. market based Food & Beverage

on NielsenIQ scanner data. The coverage spans AOC (all outlets combined, including Manabu Sumoge >>

convenience stores), club stores (including Costco), pet specialty stores, and Amazon 1P. Research Analyst

Based on the four weeks ended May 16. Japanese food manufacturers are broadly BofAS+81 3 6225Japan8855

performing solidly. Kewpie has seen an acceleration in overall company-wide growth manabu.sumoge@bofa.com

since April, potentially driven by dressings. Kikkoman’s soy sauce has recorded a marked Yuxi Dai >>

Research Analyst

improvement in sales volume growth. While the instant noodle market continues to face BofAS Japan

volume declines due to price increases, momentum in sales volumes is recovering. The yuxi.dai@bofa.com

frozen foods industry appears to remain weak, with the downturn in Asian foods

persisting. Ajinomoto may be impacted by the foreign-matter contamination-related

recall in March, with effects potentially continuing at the retail level as of May.

Exhibit 1: Kikkoman (2801) saw growth improve to double digits, Kewpie (2809) maintained

strong growth, while Ajinomoto (2802) remained under pressure Note: This is a monthly data set

US Nielsen: Monthly sales trends for food companies based on Nielsen's four-week period,

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