The slowdown in the UK’s plant-based market is showing signs of levelling off, according to new research published by the Good Food Institute (GFI).
Using Circana data, GFI showed that consumers in the UK are buying fewer plant-based foods, with a 9% decline in sales volume and 3% decline in sales value between 2022 and 2023. However, data for early 2024 suggests that the rate of decline is slowing in some categories.
Indeed, what is clear, said GFI, is that plant-based foods are now an established part of many UK shopping baskets: 35% of households in Great Britain bought plant-based milk in 2023, for example, with nearly three-quarters of those households buying it more than once.
Plant-based milk and drinks had the highest sales (£404m in 2023), with plant-based cream the fastest growing category (10% in volume and 23% in sales value between 2022 and 2023, reaching £10m). This was from a small base but the branded alternatives have become cheaper per litre than branded conventional cream.
Cream is one of three emerging categories, which also include seafood and cheese, where interest is rising, said GFI. Sales of ready meals and meat, by contrast, fell 27% and 13% respectively between 2022 and 2023.
Previous research by the Food Foundation showed that plant-based meat carries a significant price premium per kg over animal-based meat, ranging from 7% more expensive for meatballs to 193% more expensive for bacon.
The total market for plant-based foods stood at £942m in 2023, with sales down 2.8% on the previous year. Price has been a barrier, according to previous research, while the category has also been beset by criticisms of its ultra-processed nature.
However, sales across the six European countries assessed – UK, Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands and Italy – actually increased 5.5% in 2023 to €5.4bn, according to GFI’s full analysis.
“Europe’s plant-based sector has continued to make headway despite a difficult few years for the wider food industry,” said Helen Breewood, research and resource manager at GFI Europe. She called on policymakers and manufacturers to “continue to invest in innovation and infrastructure to develop tastier, more affordable products”.
Last week, Lidl GB announced that it is more than tripling the number of plant-based products that it offers shoppers. The discount grocery chain is aiming for 25% of total protein sales to come from plants by 2030.
Campaigners at ProVeg International, WWF, and the Green Protein Alliance have called on all food retailers to set targets to help “rebalance” food sales towards plant-based foods.
They want companies to align their targets with the ‘planetary health diet’. The split between plant-based and animal-based foods in this diet is around 70% plant to 30% animal when all food groups are included, and 60% plant to 40% animal when focusing only on protein sources.
