Status: 04/03/2023 5:46 p.m
Last year, Germans ate less meat than they had in more than 30 years. At the same time, the market for plant-based alternatives grew. This also applies to animal milk products.
According to preliminary figures from the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), the per capita consumption of meat products in 2022 fell by more than four kilograms per capita to a total of 52 kilograms compared to the previous year. This is the lowest value since calculations began in 1989, the authority said. In a ten-year comparison, per capita consumption even fell by almost nine kilograms (2012: 60.9).
The decline is therefore greatest for pork. Here every German ate an average of 29 kilograms last year, in 2020 it was around 31 kilograms per person; In 2012 it was even just under 39 kilograms. The per capita consumption of beef fell by 900 grams to 8.7 kilograms in the previous year, and that of poultry by 400 grams to 12.7 kilograms.
Alternatives to meat increasingly popular
The BLE cites increasing tendencies towards a plant-based diet in the population as possible reasons for the falling meat consumption. According to Study by the organization Good Food Institute Europe (GFI) the market for plant-based meat and milk alternatives is indeed continuing to grow strongly. In 2022, sales of such products in Germany increased by eleven percent to 1.91 billion euros. Accordingly, sales have increased in almost all product categories examined.
According to GFI, sales of meat alternatives in Germany increased by seven percent compared to the previous year to 643 million euros. “The number of products sold in this category increased by 41 percent between 2020 and 2022, while sales of prepackaged meat from livestock fell by 13 percent,” the organization said. The greatest growth rates were in alternatives to seafood, cream, ready meals and desserts.
Animal milk is also replaced
According to the information, sales of alternatives to animal milk such as oat, almond or soy milk increased by 13 percent to 552 million euros last year. “Measured in terms of products sold, the plant-based milk market has grown by 48 percent since 2020, while the market for cow’s milk has shrunk by 12 percent,” said the GFI.
Alternatives to other dairy products would also have sold better, such as plant-based cheese and plant-based ice cream. Only in the case of plant-based yoghurt did sales decline slightly.
According to the study, meat and dairy alternatives are by far the largest categories in the market for plant-based substitutes. The organization points out that plant-based products were significantly less affected by the high inflation: the prices for meat and cow’s milk rose significantly more.
Data from 13 countries
For the study, the GFI evaluated retail data from 13 European countries. In a European comparison, Germany is by far the largest market for plant-based foods, with sales here almost twice as high as in Great Britain, which comes in second (982 million euros).
And “in no other Western European country” did sales increase more in 2022 than in Germany, explained the GFI. On average in Europe, sales of plant-based alternative products grew by six percent.