Vegetarianism in Russia

2022: Sales of products for vegans decreased in Russia

In 2022, sales of products for vegans in Russia turned out to be equal to 55.1 thousand tons, which is 3.8% less than a year earlier. Such figures were cited by BusinesStat analysts in May 2023.

Experts attribute the fall in the market to a reduction in millet for products amid rising prices and a narrowing of the assortment. Amid an unstable economic environment and a decline in real disposable income, consumers of plant-based products have reduced the physical volume of purchases, abandoning optional spending such as sweets, snacks, expensive groceries.

Sales of products for vegans decreased in Russia

Some non-vegan consumers who bought plant alternatives spontaneously or as a sample refused to purchase plant-based products in favor of more affordable traditional counterparts. So, as the researchers note, the demand for much more expensive than non-vegan vegetable drinks and groceries has decreased, but at the same time plant products that do not have cheaper traditional alternatives: plant meat and dairy products have not lost demand.

In previous years, sales of vegan products in the domestic market increased annually, the growth rate was quite high and ranged from 28.5% to 36.4%. Significant growth in sales of plant-based products in 2018-2021. largely due to global trends in responsible attitude towards the ecosphere, healthy lifestyle and functional nutrition. Among the consumers of alternative products are not only vegetarians and vegans, but also flexitarians, allergy sufferers with lactose intolerance, young people in whose environment it becomes fashionable to adhere to a certain diet, religious people who purchase vegan products during fasts. The growing popularity of vegan products was facilitated by the emergence of new tastes and lines of plant products among Russian manufacturers, an active advertising campaign on the Internet and the media to promote products, as well as the expansion of distribution channels, the study said.^[1]

Notes