Asia continues to dominate soy milk consumption

Next were Singapore (almost 12l/day), Thailand (just over 10l/day), China (9.5l/day) and Malaysia (9l/day). The data were presented at a soy conference in Taiwan recently by Michael Loh, the business development director at supplier, London Agricultural Commodities.

The highest level of soy drink consumption among non-Asian nations were Australia, Canada and Spain all at about 3l/day.

US consumption, which market researcher Mintel has noted is falling for all soy foods and beverages, was lower at about 1.5l/day.

Commenting on the figures, European soy expert Ignace DeBryne, from Ignace Debruyne & Associates, noted that Spain had passed Belgium (just over 2l/day) to become the highest soy drink consumers in Europe.

“There is more competition from other milk substitutes such as almond, hemp and rice and so the soy market is changing,” ​he said. “In Spain for instance the healthy sell is more prominent than the straight milk substitute.”​

“But everyone is dealing with the negative European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinion on soy potein and cholesterol last year – that is having an effect too.”​

That opinion had prompted leading soy drink maker Alpro to add phytosterols to its drinks to benefit from the positive cholesterol-reducing claim opinion that the nutrient had won from EFSA.

Mintel’s US report suggests soy’s loss of superfood status has contributed to a 16% slide in sales between 2008 and 2010. Read more about on FoodNavigator-USA.com today.

Street soy​

Loh’s presentation noted that while soy drink sales remained high in Asia, manufacturers there were faced with the challenge of converting street soy drink sales of raw product into end-product sales.

“Soy drinks are sold in the streets and in packs and this is a typical consumption trends in each country in Southeast Asia,”​ he said.

“An emerging business opportunity lies in converting people from consuming ‘street soya’ to packed soy drinks. Hence it is important to know the size of each market segment.”​

Examples included Vietnam where packed soy drink sales accounted for 30% of the market, Malaysia and Singapore where it was 40% and Thailand where it was 70%.

But TetraPak figures showed 13% growth in all these markets.

He noted the his company had seen a sharp decline in Japanese demand for high-isolflavone soy varieties after negative press linking the nutrient with negative health effects.

“We have a plant breeder who developed a soybean variety that is higher in isoflavone content by about 50% and now we do not have a market for it,”​ he said.