For the five weeks ending July 2, Circana, previously IRI reported that sales of plant-based meat products were down 12.6 percent to a value of $106 million. Unit sales were down 19.8 percent. In contrast, refrigerated meat sales were down by 2.7 percent on a year-over-year basis with a value of $8.4 billion. This means that the plant based meat substitute market represented 1.3 percent of real meat over the period. During the five-weeks, unit sales of meat declined by 2.3 percent.
The disproportionate decline in plant-based meat sales compared to real meat is taking place against food deflation. Circana estimates that the cost of all foods and beverages in multi-outlet stores increased by 6.4 percent over the five-week period down from double digits during the first quarter.
Consumer disaffection with plant-based meats is based on higher prices compared to real meat, lack of variety and inferior organoleptic qualities. After initial increases in demand with sales of 58.8 million pounds in 2020, up 76 percent over the previous year with 33.4 million pounds, sales plateaued in 2021 at 59 million pounds and thereafter declined with 51 million pounds in 2022, a 13.6 percent reduction. The June 2023 uptake of 4.1 million pounds represented a 25.1 percent reduction over June 2022.