A new report revealed at last week’s international meat fair IFFA reveals the opportunities that animal meat producers can seize in the booming plant-based meat sector.
The report, published by food awareness organisation ProVeg International, says the sector offers huge opportunities for meat companies, with sales values of plant-based meat in Europe amounting to €1.4 billion in 2020 on top of a growth rate of 68% over the past two years.
Key insights in the report include:
- 90% of plant-based food consumers are flexitarian, not vegan or vegetarian
- Taste and price are key drivers for consumer demand
- The leading category in the market is the plant-based burger patties segment
- The UK leads the European market, followed by Germany and the Netherlands
- Germany leads the European market in terms of growth rates, followed by Austria
In the conclusion to the report, ProVeg makes several key recommendations, including that all meat producers enter the plant-based market and that they direct their marketing at flexitarians as they are the largest, and therefore, most important consumer group at present.
“There really is no better time than now for meat producers to consider entering the plant-based meat sector,” Stephanie Jaczniakowska-McGirr, International Head of Food and Retail at ProVeg, said. “The opportunities are immense and we hope that our free report that we have launched this week makes that abundantly clear,” she added.
