The Smart Protein Report, which was published in 2021, compares retail data from 11 European countries between 2018 and 2020 and shows a unanimous trend: the plant-based food market is growing rapidly. Almost all countries show double-digit growth in sales volume and value.
Germany has the highest numbers with 97% growth in plant-based sales value and 80% in sales volume with a total growth of €817m. The UK comes in second place, where the sales values for pb food grew 73% and 67% in volume, followed by Austria, Romania, The Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, France, Belgium and finally Italy with only 1% growth in sales value and 5% growth in sales volume. Nevertheless the total growth in sales value in Italy represents €490m.
Sales value and volume in discount stores are also strongly increasing which means plant-based food is becoming more accessible.