Plant-based foods attract more gourmands

Mainly due to the negative retail impact from the pandemic, the plant-based beverage market experienced a significant drop in both value and volume sales in 2020, according to Yin Rujun, senior research analyst with Mintel China.

Market value saw a 12.1 percent drop and reached 54.6 billion yuan in 2020. Market volume also suffered an 11.8 percent decline to reach 3.52 billion liters.

"However, thanks to rising awareness of personal well-being among consumers, Mintel expects both numbers to bounce back to pre-COVID-19 levels from this year onward. Market value is expected to reach 77.5 billion yuan ($11.97 billion) in 2025, while volume is set to reach 4.74 billion liters in 2025," Yin said.

Plant-based proteins have emerged with a new concept focusing on vegetarian, health and environmental requirements. This means plant-based proteins are designed to provide more trusted, efficient choices of quality proteins that also celebrate taste and diversity, according to industry experts.

However, factors to contend are whether taste can win favor among consumers, and the cost of plant-based meats, which is more expensive than real meats. And the absence of national standards leading to the existence of lower-quality products in the market might hinder plant-based products, which are still at the very beginning of development.

"For the whole industry, the scale of the market and consumer acceptance will determine how far all companies can progress," said Chan with Cargill.

The taste of plant-based products and application scenarios should be the most important factors to feed the growing appetite for quality proteins, as consumers have higher requirements for taste and they want to try plant-based proteins in more situations, such as dumplings, hotpots and ready-to-eat foods. So we still need to continuously improve taste and expand applications, Chan said.

Economic factors must also be considered regarding the popularity of plant-based foods. At the moment, a plant-based burger alternative is still a bit more expensive than the real deal, according to Asvaintra.

"You're still going to really have to give people some good incentives as to why they would want to buy plant-based versus meat products."

Hong was optimistic that the economic problem can be solved with the development of the supply chain in China.

About 95 percent of the raw materials used for producing plant-based meat can be purchased in China. Once more production capacity is built in the nation, costs can be cut effectively, Hong said.

"One thing we are looking forward to is a national standard that addresses the specific requirements for plant-based foods. With that, industrial players can develop products in accordance with rules, and consumers' confusion on related products can be cleared up," Hong said.

Globally, 56 percent of flexitarian consumers are trying to consume more plant-based foods and beverages, pushing alternative proteins into an increasingly mainstream phenomenon. Demand for plant-based protein products is rapidly expanding beyond just burger analogues to new and novel products, including alternative seafoods like shellfish and shrimp, plant-based cheeses, ready-to-eat protein snacks and more, said Pan with ADM.