Global food delivery giants retreat as inflation and price wars squeeze margins

30 articles·19 sources·updated about 2 hours ago·View in graph

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Japan’s food delivery sector is contracting for the first time since the pandemic after a brutal price war and soaring costs forced Wolt to exit the market in March and pushed domestic leader Demae-can toward its eighth straight annual loss. The industry, once hailed as a pandemic winner, shrank 6.1% in 2024 before eking out 2.0% growth in 2025, but the rebound has stalled as operators battle rising labor and advertising bills while consumers tighten spending. “The cycle in which some players exit the market as new operators enter will continue,” said Sayaka Azuma, an analyst at Circana Japan Ltd .

The retreat caps a three-year surge that saw the domestic market balloon from ¥410 billion in 2019 to ¥860.3 billion in 2023, driven by stay-at-home demand and the convenience of smartphone apps. Yet the arrival of Rocket Now in 2025—promising to match in-store prices—triggered a price war that eroded margins across the board. Delivery fees, already higher than in-store rates, came under further pressure, while inflation pushed ingredient and fuel costs higher. Wolt’s withdrawal in March 2026, after six years in Japan, underscored the sector’s fragility, leaving a handful of incumbents—Uber Eats Japan Inc and Demae-can among them—locked in a fight for survival.

The squeeze is not confined to Japan. In Cyprus, June’s consumer prices rose 3.1% year-on-year, with fuel surging 21.17%, food up 5.06%, and housing costs climbing 5.60% . Economists Nektarios Michail and Kyriakos Lamprias noted that lower-income households, which spend a disproportionate share of income on essentials, bear the brunt of such increases. “The impact of rising inflation on consumers depends on the specific goods affected, household savings, and balance-sheet composition,” they wrote in a June 18 analysis, highlighting how energy and food price spikes translate directly into reduced purchasing power for the most vulnerable.

Commodity markets are also flashing warning signs. Gold fell 7.1% in the first half of 2026 to $4,007 per ounce, while silver plunged 17.4% to $58.7, as expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes—fueled by inflation linked to the US-Israel-Iran conflict—drove investors toward the dollar and Treasury bonds . Zafer Ergezen, a futures and commodities expert, warned that silver faces “massive selling pressure” until rate-cut expectations return, with the $50–55 range acting as potential support. Platinum and palladium also slumped 24.4% and 24.2% respectively, as mine production rose and structural shifts in China’s auto sector reduced long-term demand for autocatalyst metals.

Against this backdrop, Turkey’s annual inflation eased slightly to 32.11% in June, with monthly price increases limited to 0.99%, though housing, energy, and food remained the primary drivers . Meanwhile, Belgium’s Test-Achats reported a rare deflation of 0.41% on a basket of groceries in June, the first negative reading since supermarkets began tracking the metric .

As central banks weigh further tightening, the divergence between sectors—from food delivery to precious metals—highlights how inflation, geopolitical shocks, and shifting consumer demand are reshaping industries worldwide. Analysts expect the churn to persist, with weaker players exiting and survivors consolidating around data-driven synergies rather than standalone delivery margins.

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