The Good Food Institute (GFI) Israel recently provided new consumer market data with vegconomist which shows exceptionally strong growth in the alternative food sector in Israel, and reveals that the growth of the alternative protein market in 2020 was 13 times greater than that for animal products.
The latest market data was provided by Israeli market analyst StoreNext and shows extraordinary growth in demand and sales of alternative protein products in the Israeli food market. According to the data, the Israeli alternative protein market grew by 18.5% from 2019 to 2020, while the animal food market grew by only 1.8% (excluding the pandemic effect).
Consumption of soy beverages increased by about 23% in 2020. Purchases of non-soy plant-based beverages (rice, oats, almonds) grew by 55 per cent. General demand for dairy alternatives to include cheese and yogurt, increased by a full 40 per cent.
The biggest growth in the meat alternatives category was in plant-based burgers (McDonald’s launched a plant burger in Israel back in 2019) and plant-based minced meat, with an overall growth rate of 57%. The Israeli alternative meat market grew by about 24% overall from 2019 to 2020, mainly due to sales of the above products, followed by plant-based cutlets and sausages, especially in the last quarter of 2020.
“Alternative dairy products currently account for 13% of the Israeli dairy market – exactly the same market share that dairy substitutes take in the US market,” says Aviv Oren, business engagement manager at GFI Israel. He expects this growth to continue as new technologies and major players enter this market.
