Until recently, U.S.-style cereal brands were not popular in many countries around the world for a variety of cultural and taste differences. Now, the largest cereal marketers are fine-tuning their offerings and aggressively seeking foreign markets — as the United States marketplace is saturated and seeing very slow growth. The leading global hot cereal brands include several Quaker products (from PepsiCo), while the leading cold cereal brands include Kellogg’s Special K, Post (from Ralcorp Holdings), and Cheerios (from General Mills).
As E. J. Schultz reports for Advertising Age: “As global demand grows for American-style breakfast foods, cereal marketers are battling to make their brands the top choice in China, India, Brazil, and elsewhere, where staples like bread and fish have been the traditional morning norm. The competition is fierce among Kellogg Co., PepsiCo, and Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture between General Mills and Nestle. Together, these giants control roughly 52% of the nearly $30 billion worldwide hot- and cold-cereal market, according to Euromonitor International. Opportunities are arising as consumers across the globe are acting more like Americans, the research company said in a recent report: ‘Breakfast was traditionally a sit-down meal in most markets, but is now often eaten hurriedly or on the go in the form of snack bars or ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.'”
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From Advertising Age. Source: Euromonitor International. Market size includes both hot and cold cereal.