The Good Food Institute (GFI)’s new analysis of previously unpublished Circana retail sales data shows that sales of plant-based foods in six European countries grew by 5.5% to €5.4bn last year.
Nonprofit think tank GFI Europe found that the total amount of plant-based products sold across the six countries – Germany, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and France – grew between 2022 and 2023, despite a challenging period for F&B.
Germany, which is currently Europe’s largest market for plant-based foods, showed continued growth across most product categories. The overall volume of sales also grew in Spain and France.
Sales remained stable in Italy, while in the Netherlands and the UK, sales declined – although the GFI highlighted that the slow-down began to level off throughout 2023 and the early months of 2024.
Analysis of separate household panel data suggested that plant-based milk and meat have now become ‘mainstream’ options in several European countries, GFI said. Data revealed that 37% of households in Germany, 33% in the UK and 19% in Spain bought plant-based meat at least once last year, while more than a third of German and British households, and 40% in Spain, bought plant-based milk at least once.
Sales of plant-based milk and drinks grew by 7.1% in value to reach €2.2 billion. As a proportion of all milk sales, these products took a market share of between 4.6% in France and 9.8% in Germany.
The value of plant-based meat sales increased by 3.9% to €2 billion. While overall unit sales also increased, the volume of sales measured by weight decreased by 3.2%, thought to be linked to inflation and plant-based meat’s higher price compared with traditional meat products.
Some countries were shown to be making progress toward price parity with animal-based products – price differences shrunk in Germany and the Netherlands, although they saw a slight increase in Spain.
Several sub-categories saw increasing demand. Plant-based cream sales increased in value across five of the countries (data for Spain was not available) by 24% to €138 million, with the category’s performance linked to falling prices. Plant-based cream is now cheaper on average than branded conventional cream in both Germany and the UK, GFI found.
Plant-based cheese sales increased in value by 7% to €194 million. The volume of sales grew by 24% in France, 34% in Spain and 33% in Italy.
The value of plant-based yogurt sales grew across all six countries between 2023 and early 2024, while the value of plant-based seafood sales grew by 10% in Germany and the UK.
Plant-based ready meals, desserts and ice cream all showed declining sales – GFI noted that this could be due to cost-of-living pressures, leading consumers to reduce consumption of non-essential and convenience items.
Helen Breewood, research and resource manager at GFI Europe, said that Europe’s plant-based sector has continued to make headway despite a “difficult few years” for the broader food industry.
She commented: “Our analysis finds that lower prices and higher quality can power the growth of these more sustainable options, so policymakers and manufacturers should continue to invest in innovation and infrastructure to develop tastier, more affordable products capable of building a diversified, resilient and healthy European food system”.
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