Market development in German food industry
The ANUGA showed impressive figures. Yet the development in the food industry is stagnating in Germany. In the first half of the year the turnover declined by 4.4 percent and was 819 billion Euro. The domestic turnover share even decreased by 6.5 percent.
Export plays an important role in the German food industry. With a value of 26.1 billion Euro the export quote was 32 percent. The export grew in the first half of 2015, but minimally, by 0.5 percent. The expectation of the German branch organisation for the food industry BVE is that the stagnation will continue at home and abroad.
Consumer's Choice: consumer buys less but more consciously
Branch organisation BVE and market research bureau GfK presented the results of the research "Consumer's Choice" at the ANUGA 2015. This showed that, due to a changing lifestyle, consumers are often under time pressure, their days are less structured and they are also very mobile at the same time. There often isn't much time for grocery shopping. Consumers are therefore buying less food, but are still looking at quality. Quality is now the main purchasing factor for 51 percent of the German consumers. In 2001 the price was still the deciding factor. There is also less cooking and eating at home. At the same time the consumer has a high health consciousness and is looking more at sustainable and healthy food.
Sustainably produced products increasingly important
Seven out of ten consumers believe that a large supply of sustainably produced foods are an important contribution from the food industry and trade to a sustainable society. The consumers believe that the German industry and trade have to undertake more. The term sustainable means environmental and climate protection and environmentally friendly to the consumer, but also efficiently managing energy and reusing products, waste recycling and avoiding.
New trends 1: vegan products
More and more people are vegan. The share in Germany was one percent of the German population in 2014. The trend also has to do with conscious food and critical consumers. At the ANUGA alone 136 vegan products were taken into the database of new products. According to GfK the turnover of meatless products has doubled in the past 5 years. In the first quarter of 2015 27% more was turned over compared to the year before.
New trends 2: health products
In the first half of the year 8.6 percent of all new registered foods were health products. This was shown from figures from Innova Market Insights. Think of products like baby food, yoghurt, muesli or food with a lot of protein.
New trends 3: gourmet products
Consumers finding quality increasingly important is shown in the trend and that there is more demand for gourmet products. In 2014 wine, vegetables and chocolate were among the most new registered products.
New trends 4: fair trade products
The demand for fairtrade products is rising. In 2014 the number of registrations of new products in the Innova database increased by a quarter. Transfair had announced earlier this year that German consumers spent 26 percent more on fairtrade products compared to last year. In 2014 this was 827 million Euro. The sales of coffee, bananas, flowers and cocoa grew especially well.
New trends 5: to go products
Due to the lack of time to do shopping and cook, German consumers are eating out more often or pick up to go products. The demand for convenience products is also slowly but surely increasing.
Still current: trends for local and organic products
Besides the new trends, local and organic products are still popular among German consumers. According to the market research bureau GfK the number of consumers that will spend more money on regional products rose 3 percent this year compared to last. The supermarkets are therefore focussing more on the sales of these products. Consumers are buying the products for different reasons, such as "Heimatliebe" or see them as especially sustainable. This also goes for organic products. They are 4.4 percent of the total food turnover in Germany. The average German spends 86 Euro per year on organic products. This is twice as much as the average EU citizen. This market is also still growing. Germany can't meet the demand itself and so much rely on import.
If Dutch companies can play into these new and current trends, there is certainly something to gain on the German market.