They're talking about geographical markets, not categories of people.
Saying "X is popular in africa" would not be racist either.
Saying "X is popular in africa" would not be racist either.
Personally, I find it more offensive when people get offended by non offensive things than by ignorant generalizations, like grouping all Asians into a race, by grouping all black people into a culture, by mixing up culture and race (this one is tricky however), etc..