IDM ¦ Ingredients
Plant-based dairy
alternatives
Opportunities in markets with high growth rates
Authors: Roland Gianotten, Alexander Krauskopf, Zentis, Germany
Plant-based dairy alternatives show higher growth rates
than original dairy products, especially during lockdown
periods (but also afterwards). Between October 2020
and September 2021, 338 million kg of these products
(spoonable and drinkable) were sold in Germany, with sales value
reaching € 637 million, an increase of 31% compared to previous
moving annual total. Sales of conventional dairy products grew
by 1.2% to 1.944 million tonnes during the period and turnover
increased by 3.1% to € 4.55 billion.
The highest growth in comparison to individual segments can
be witnessed in milk drink alternatives, which reached sales of
€ 459 million in the above-mentioned period (+ 31.5%). Yoghurt
alternatives generated 22% more turnover with € 154.8 million.
This implicates corresponding sales volume of 290 million kg
(+ 34.2%) for milk drink alternatives and 43.8 million kg (+ 27%)
for yoghurt-like products.¹
The primary driver of these developments is increasing demand,
but also the broader variety of product assortments and the
better availability on the retail shelves and advertising. The latter is
also reflected in the promotion share of sales, which is now about
10% and thus half of conventional dairy categories.
Raw materials
Oats as an ingredient base for dairy alternatives now account for
almost 50% of all volumes. And in MAT August 2021, oat-based
products increased sales by 63m, driven mainly by drinks. Almond
10 · May/June 2022 ¦ international-dairy.com
ranks second with € 11.3m increase, followed by coconut with
€ 6.1m and soy with € 5.5m. Pea as a raw material for plant-based
alternatives had a share with a sales increase of € 2.4 million, but
with a dynamic upward trend.
Plant-based dairy alternative products reached sales of € 695
million (+6.7%) in seven of the most important markets in Europe
between January and July 2021, while conventional dairy products
with a volume over € 5 billion saw only a small growth of 0.5%.
The largest single segment within "plant-based" is alternative
drinks with € 526 million in sales.¹
Reasons for the growth
What are the drivers for this astonishing development? On the
one hand, consumers are reducing their consumption of dairy
(10.2 million households in Germany), on the other hand they
are increasingly switching to plant-based alternatives (1.7 million
households). Almost half of these households are switching their
consumption completely to plant-based milk alternatives (819,000
households in Germany). Animal welfare, concerns on sugar levels
or additives, climate change and packaging concerns (plastics) are
quoted in surveys as the main reasons for the substitution. Younger
people tend to give up dairy products by following the motive
"I want to become better", while elderly people want to stay active
longer. It is no longer just curiosity that makes consumers turn
to alternatives; the number of repeat purchases is increasing. Two
out of three buyers of yoghurt alternatives stick with them, one
third of German households have already bought alternatives,
/international-dairy.com
