Poles reaching for plant-based products
Poles are drinking more and more plant-based milk substitutes and reaching for plant-based meat substitutes.
Every year, more and more Poles are consciously choosing to limit meat and dairy.
In 2022, sales of plant-based milk analogs totaled 387.1 million PLN (82.4 million EUR) with steady growth in the category.
Plant-based meat analogs, on the other hand, recorded about 15 % share of the total packaged meat market, with sales worth 176 million PLN (38.2 million EUR), according to the latest NielsenIQ report.
In Poland, sales of plant-based milk and cheese analogs increased by 17 % in 2022 to 387.1 million PLN (82.4 million EUR) and 76.8 million PLN (16.7 million EUR), respectively.
Plant-based milk substitutes account for 10 % of sales of the entire milk category, and volume sales of plant-based milk increased by 39 % between 2020 and 2022.
In the same period, volume sales of animal milk fell by 1 %. The average price of plant milk fell by 3 % last year, while due to inflation the price of conventional milk increased by 27 %.
The report shows that quantitative sales of plant-based cheeses increased by 19 % in 2022, while quantitative sales of traditional cheeses increased by 4 % over the same period.
Prices for vegetable cheeses fell by 1%, while prices for traditional cheeses fell by 20%.
Sales of plant-based yogurts rose 15 % year-on-year to 89.1 million PLN in 2022 (18.9 million EUR; up 105 % between 2020 and 2022 - almost four times as much as milk yogurts).
This category also saw lower price growth than their animal-based counterparts, the material also indicated.
Plant-based desserts had a 15 % year-on-year increase in sales to 45.9 million PLN in 2022 (9.8 million EUR, which is up 105 % between 2020 and 2022), while cream recorded a 3 % increase to 7.5 million PLN (1.6 million EUR).
The 50 % increase in value sales in 2022 and 125 % increase in value sales between 2020 and 2022 shown in the report are due to the addition of the vegetable meat category in 2022.
Source: Business Insider