Global Egg Replacers Market Trend – Ensuring an Allergen Free Indulgence

 

The growing prevalence of allergy towards eggs and egg-based products, the increasing pool of vegans, and flexitarians coupled with the recent upswing in plant-based alternative which in turn is driven by the growing awareness of environmental degradation caused by animal husbandry. Furthermore, consumers are increasingly inclined to experiment with the kind of food products they would include in their daily diet, this has facilitated increasing R&D investments facilitating product launches, among others. A few instances are being listed below:

March 2019 – Product Launch

Scramblit™ – A reportedly Delicious superfood and an egg alternative that is derived out of plant were launched by Spero Foods which was reported to constitute zinc, omega 3’s, iron, antioxidants which were 30 times more than present in animal eggs.

October 2019 – Product Development

Zero Egg which is an Israeli based startup has reportedly developed plant-based egg replacement for food manufacturers, which it claims to have the same characteristic and functionality of the real egg and can be used to make sauces, pasta, omelets, and baked goods

October 2020 – Product Improvement

As a response to the growing demand for high-quality vegan bakery goods, Ulrick & Short reportedly unveiled the latest addition to its egg replacement range ovaprox 5 which has been developed to mimic the functional properties of eggs in a 100% egg-free scenario, but with an emphasis on the improvement of the volume, texture, tenderization, emulsification, crumb structure of the vegan baked goods. The product is reportedly a clean label, non-GMO, and allergen-free and reportedly has a shelf life of 12 years in ambient conditions.

Rural Population (% of Total Population)

Source: World Bank

The factor that is at the core that is expected to drive the growth of the market is the rapid rate of urbanization

The rate of urbanization and the simultaneous migration from rural areas to urban regions are facilitating the trend of convenience snacking and consumption of ready-to-eat-food apart from other kinds of shifts in dietary patterns. Besides the other aspect that is poised to drive the global egg replacers market is the change in erstwhile food and beverage consumption which were essentially traditional to a range of food products that are processed thus leading to an increase in expenditure towards such products. This is partly due to FAO’s predictions that the individual consumption patterns of the population which in turn is based on respective consumption preferences and the available income to realize them. With the gradual rise in incomes the consumers’’ proclivity to spend their extra income on food is predicted to decline and consequently the share of expenditure on food in total disposable income is expected to fall, which is estimated to fall to 6% by 2029 from 8% estimated in 2020.

The emerging economies of upper and lower-middle-income countries are forecasted to experience the decrease, whereby food expenditure shares are expected to fall from 21% to 17% for lower-middle-income countries, and from 19% to 14% for upper-middle-income countries by 2029. It can be delineated that the aforesaid is expected to partly arise from the rapid growth of urbanization which is currently widespread. To this end it is important to note that according to the UN by 2030, Africa is expected to witness an urban settlement that would constitute 47 % of the population, Asia is expected to witness an urban settlement that would comprise 56% of its total population, and Oceania 71%. Moreover, the urban population in Africa is expected to triple by 2050. As of 2018 Africa and Asia represented the lowest levels of urbanization while in the case of Latin American and the Caribbean 81% of the population is concentrated in urban settlements and 74 % of the population of Europe that is concentrated in urban settlements. Northern America, was the estimated to be the most urbanized region as of 2018 that constituted 82% of its population was living in urban areas. Before all foregoing, the share of the global population living in urban areas is estimated to reach 60 % in 2030 from 55 % in 2018.

By Geography, Asia is expected to occupy a significant share of the market during the forecast period

The APAC region is known for its diverse food consumption trend and various eating habits that comprise more than half of the global population which was in the order of 4.1 billion. As per USDA, Indonesia’s grocery retail sales reached $115 billion in 2019. COVID 19 had fueled panic buying during the first quarter of 2020. Further, the normal trend of going to wet markets was refrained from due to considerations pertaining to hygiene which is also in a certain manner expected to contribute to the global egg replacer market growth due to increasing abstinence from products that are derived out of animals. With regards to Thailand, the increasing pool of young, middle-income populations with a higher disposable income and greater inclination to spend are core drivers that are expected to drive the opportunities for product development since with more availability of disposable income there is an increased likelihood of experimentation. Furthermore, in the case of China as per the National Bureau of Statistics of China the total retail sales of consumer goods accounted for 3,357.1 billion yuan, an increase of 0.5 % year on year (YoY).

Moreover, the segment of the urban consumer goods reportedly registered retail sales of 2,927.3 billion yuan that was reportedly an increment by 0.5 % (YoY). Additionally, from January to August, retail sales carried over online were in the order of 7,032.6 billion yuan which was growth by 9.5 % YoY. Thus, with such market conditions, the food-and-beverage industry is expected to witness a myriad of developments with products pertaining to egg replacers as one of them. For instance, JUST Inc. had reportedly announced in May 2019 that it is the first major U.S. food tech start-up to enter mainland China. Just-Egg which is rich in protein and derived from the plant was reportedly available for purchase on the country’s largest online retailer JD.com; Tmall.com an e-commerce platform; JUST’s WeChat Store; Hunter Gatherer – healthy restaurant chain; Hema – supermarket and food delivery service; e-commerce platform dedicated to food called FreshFresh.com; and City’super-specialty retailer.