Russia has great prospects in the global market for herbal alternatives

Since plant-based alternatives to meat do not contain gluten, cholesterol, antibiotics, and Russian products do not contain GMOs, they have a high export and investment potential. Valeria Rodina, Executive Director of the Union of Plant Based Producers, spoke about this during the Agroinvestor conference “Agroholdings of Russia – 2021”. Now, according to her, Europe is the largest market for vegetable meat, the countries of the Asia-Pacific region and the USA are also promising .

The world market for plant-based products by 2026 may exceed $88 billion (2016 - $14.2 billion), and by 2030 Russia may take 15% of this market with effective state support. According to Rodina, our country has all the advantages for this: agro-climatic conditions, the pace of technology development in the field of food technology and the growing demand for plant products. In addition, the competitiveness of this industry is growing thanks to the introduction of a cross-border carbon tax by the EU. Also today in China, India, Japan there is a high demand for vegetable alternatives, but there are relatively few manufacturers of high-quality and tasty products. In this regard, Russian goods may become in demand and occupy a promising niche.

Right now, there are two main drivers of growth in demand for alternatives, says Rodina. The first one is for health reasons: people make a choice in favor of plant products due to diseases of the cardiovascular system, diabetes, lactose intolerance, obesity, etc. The second one is a conscious refusal on personal ethical grounds. In addition, the trend towards a healthy lifestyle and personalized nutrition is growing. Thus, flexitarians, people who have partially abandoned animal food in favor of plant food, are becoming the key audience for alternative products. But for the further development of the industry, it is necessary to put things in order in the regulatory system, since there is no definition of plant products in the legislation. 

At the moment, 30% of consumers of alternatives are millennials (generation Y, 25-40 years old), 32% are centennials (generation Z, 13-24 years old). 79% of Generation Z eat alternatives once or twice a week and 60% plan to increase the proportion of alternatives in their diet. “For those born after 1996, care for the environment is in the first place. This generation will become the base generation in the next 10 years and will determine the demand for food,” says Rodina.

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In 2019, the country produced 8.5 thousand tons of vegetable "milk" and 1.9 thousand tons of "meat", in 2020 - 24 thousand tons and 2.7 thousand tons, respectively. In 2021, the vegetable products segment in Russia grew by 18% in value terms, by 19% in physical terms, and by 6% and 1% in traditional products, respectively.