Plant-Based Food Sales Skyrocket as U.S. Consumers Seek Healthier Options

Summary

During the Covid-19 pan­demic, plant-based food sales in the U.S. grew sig­nif­i­cantly more than total food sales, with a 90 per­cent increase through mid-March com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year. Olive oil sales have also seen a recent increase, likely due to height­ened demand at gro­cery stores dur­ing the cri­sis, both in the U.S. and in coun­tries like Greece and Spain.

The growth of plant-based food sales has far out­paced total food sales increases in the United States dur­ing the Covid-19 pan­demic, accord­ing to data pub­lished by the Plant Based Foods Association and SPINS, a mar­ket ana­lyt­ics firm.

Sales of plant-based foods grew by 90 per­cent through mid-March, com­pared to the same period last year, as Americans flooded super­mar­kets dur­ing a period of ​“panic buy­ing.”

In the four weeks after the peak panic buy­ing period, plant-based food sales grew by 27 per­cent, as con­sumers sought out health­ier eat­ing options than they nor­mally would. Plant-based food sales also grew 35 per­cent more quickly than total food sales in that period, the data show.

“Since the begin­ning of the pan­demic, there has been a con­tin­ued shift in con­sumer pur­chas­ing toward nat­ural and organic prod­ucts that enhance health and immu­nity,” SPINS CEO and owner Tony Olson said.

While the impacts of the pan­demic on con­sumer trends have yet to fully man­i­fest them­selves in all sec­tors, anec­do­tal evi­dence shows that olive oil sales in the U.S. have also been boosted by the pan­demic.

“Demand for olive oil has increased recently,” Brady Whitlow, the pres­i­dent of Corto Olive, the sec­ond largest olive oil pro­ducer in the U.S., told Olive Oil Times. ​“We pre­sume it is due to the increased demand at gro­cery stores due to the Covid-19 cri­sis.”

The U.S. is not the first coun­try to expe­ri­ence a boost in olive oil sales as a result of Covid-19. Both Greece and Spain saw domes­tic olive oil sales grow at the begin­ning of the pan­demic as well.

In its 2020 agri-food out­look report, the European Union also said that olive oil con­sump­tion in the trad­ing bloc is expected to increase by 5.2 per­cent in the 2019/20 crop year, largely dri­ven by panic buy­ing at the begin­ning of 2020.

• Plant Based Food Association


• Olive Oil Times