Dairy Alternatives Move Beyond Soy
While dairy alternative drinks accounted for a relatively limited share of 5% of the total dairy launches recorded by Innova Market Insights in the 12 months to the end of October 2012, the market has seen considerable recent development. This is being fueled by its increasing popularity in the West, where it is moving out of the specialist heath food arena and into the mainstream.
Soy milks traditionally dominate the sector and still featured in 78% of dairy alternative drinks launches, either as a main or secondary ingredient. But there has been rising interest in the use of other plant-based alternatives, including cereals, such as rice, oats and barley, and nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts. Rice was the second most popular ingredients after soy, but at a considerable distance, featuring in 17% of introductions. This is ahead of oats in 11% and almonds in 10%.
Almond milks, already highlighted as a sector to watch by Innova Market Insights back in early 2011, has continued to grow in popularity. Their share of global launches has reached its present level of 10% from just 3% in 2005. Following the flurry of activity in almond milks in the US in 2010 and 2011, a rise in interest was recorded in Europe, particularly the UK, in 2012. Former soy specialist Alpro is extending into the nut milks market with almond and hazelnut milks early in the year, closely followed by Kallo developing its Dream range of milk alternatives with Almond Dream, and then the mid-year arrival of US almond company Blue Diamond’s Almond Breeze range.
Dairy alternative drinks have traditionally been marketed on a health platform and this has continued, with three-quarters of launches recorded by Innova Market Insights featuring a health claim of some kind. The most popular positionings relating to lactose-free formulations, the use of organic ingredients, a low cholesterol content and an additive- and preservative-free “clean-label” image. Over 35% of global introductions featured lactose-free labeling, rising to over 50% in North America and Europe.
