A report commissioned by Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL), demonstrates that Asia is the predominant driver in the worldwide increase in protein consumption, with China and India as the key players.
The report shows that the global demand for protein is expected to increase some 20% from 2018 to 2025, with population growth leading to 80% of this growth. On average, each person around the world was estimated to consume 26kg of protein per year on average in 2018, and this is expected to rise by 27% to 33kg in 2025.
Asia appeared as a dominant force in the increase in protein demand; global protein consumption increased by 40% between 2000 and 2018 and over 50% of this increase was driven by Asia, significantly China and India. “China is a key protein market to focus on: it ranks first globally on both volume and value and [on its own is predicted to] account for 35% of global protein market value in 2025.”
The protein consumption in China is expected to increase from 58million tonnes in 2018 to 70million tonnes 2025. During those years China will be contributing 31% of the total global increase. In India, protein consumption is set to reach 38m tonnes in 2025, up from 30m tonnes in 2018, contributing 16% as a whole to the global increase.
Interestingly, the researchers state that, in 2018, plant-based proteins accounted for 66% of global protein consumption supply, and plants are set to remain as the dominant source up to 2025.
