Plant potential: Growth in a market driven by consumer trends

28 Feb 2018 --- Plant-based proteins and ingredients have been around for a long time, however, it is not until in recent years, they have become the focal point of one of the most prominent foods and health movements trending today. While plant-based proteins such as soy proteins have been applied in food products and meat for many years, increasing demand for nutrition and health purposes is now seen across a wide spectrum of food and nutritional products, having previously been the domain of dairy proteins.

While a growing number of people across all demographics are taking a greater interest in their health and well-being, different perceptions of what truly promotes good health and longevity have emerged.

Just yesterday, FoodIngredientsFirst reported on the plant protein potential of start-up Perfect Day. The Silicon Valley-based innovator is collaborating with food companies and food investors to bring its proteins to market and has raised US$24.7 million in funding and received its first patent for the use of animal-free dairy proteins in food applications.

And earlier this month, Goldman Sachs invested US$65 million in Ripple Foods Inc., a start-up beverage company that creates milk-like beverages from yellow peas. Plant-based proteins are certainly making their mark on the industry, and are giving more traditional animal proteins a run for their money.

A new 3A Business Consulting study, “The Global Market for Plant Proteins 2017-2021 – Competition with Dairy” presents the data and trends covering the global market for plant-based proteins. In the report, the latest estimates on volume, application and prospective growth by key plant proteins as well as dairy proteins are analyzed and presented. The main plant proteins covered in the report include proteins based on soy, wheat, pea, rice and potato, and dairy proteins covered include milk and whey protein concentrates and isolates as well as casein and caseinate. Furthermore, consumer trends, key players and investments in the plant-based industry are analyzed.

Plant-based foods and beverages have been singled out as a key food trend in 2018 with growing sales of existing products and many new products expected to be launched. In the US, Germany and the UK alone, more than 200 million consumers are so-called flexitarians, actively avoiding animal-based foods at least once per week. The continuous growth in the plant-based alternative market can also be viewed as an indicator of development in the plant-based protein space, where supply and demand are expected to grow significantly. To meet the growing demand for plant-based options, several players are expanding production and introducing new product offerings.

Soy protein remains the major plant protein regarding volume usage in food with DowDuPont being the key supplier of high-end soy proteins. However, pea proteins are quickly becoming the flagship of the plant-based protein trend, exhibiting significant growth with current suppliers of pea proteins like Roquette, expanding production and other ingredient suppliers such as Cargill investing in the production of pea protein.

Overall, the plant-based protein market is forecast to grow up to 11 percent per annum towards 2021, according to the study, depending on the ingredient type and for several ingredients, demand is estimated to exceed supply.