Market for meat substitutes continues to grow

Now that large food companies are responding to the popularity of meat substitutes, more and more innovation is taking place: on taste, structure and ingredients. This will lead to even stronger growth in this market in the coming years. ABN AMRO expects growth of 10 per cent in both 2019 and 2020. This acceleration in growth is mainly due to the arrival of new players. In addition to small niche players, large food and meat producers are now also focusing on offering meat substitutes. In this way, more and more money is being released for innovation, there is an increase in supply on the shelves and consumers are getting more and more choice. Producers are often inspired by existing meat concepts, such as pulled chicken. They also focus on hybrid meat variants, such as citizens who consist partly of meat and partly of oyster mushrooms, or meatballs which, in addition to minced meat, also have vegetable filling, such as rice. These products are primarily intended to seduce the growing group of consumer flexitarians.

Increasing sales of meat substitutes due to growing attention to the environment

The sales of meat substitutes are not only increasing due to the wider range, higher quality and greater awareness of the product, but the increasing attention to sustainability is also a driver of growth. Research by ABN AMRO, for example, shows that consumers who want to live a more sustainable life are also certain to look at their food. No fewer than one in three consumers say they want to eat more sustainably. Nearly 60 per cent said they were aware of meat consumption, and three out of five people consciously chose not to eat meat a few days a week.

Meat replacement market still small despite rapid growth

However, the market for meat substitutes is still small compared to meat. "Meat substitutes score well on values that are important to consumers, such as animal welfare, the environment, convenience and - increasingly - taste. Producers are therefore working hard to improve the taste experience and structure in order to imitate real meat as closely as possible," says Nadia Menkveld, Sector Economist Food and Agricultural at ABN AMRO. "Innovation is also taking place in the field of ingredients, marketing and labels, such as 'gluten-free'. At the same time, other values such as affordability, health and ethical issues such as the origin of raw materials are playing an increasingly important role.