The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the whole planet with its major impacts on the economy and businesses across the globe. The COVID-19 spread worldwide in unprecedented ways due to its high infectious and contagious nature and lack of availability of its vaccine. The COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) due to its increased spread across the globe. After the declaration of the pandemic, various countries announced the complete lockdown, such as India, China, and other Asian countries, to decrease its spread. According to the situation report of 5th October 2021, WHO stated that around 235.1 million COVID-19 cases had been reported globally, and 4.8 million patients died due to the coronavirus.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global pea protein market significantly. The persistence of COVID-19 has affected the supply and demand chain as it got disrupted due to the non-availability of ingredients such as pea and other plant protein ingredients
Impact On the Demand of Pea Protein Market
The consumers' demand increased for overall health and wellness products during the COVID-19 outbreak. The consumers' demand for pea protein products will grow rapidly beyond the historical base. The sale of pea protein products has significantly increased amidst the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a survey conducted by the association of plant-based food, the U.S. retail plant-based foods sale was 35% higher than total retail food amid the panic buying period around March and April of 2020.
The pandemic has considerably transformed consumer buying patterns. People across the globe are demanding and buying plant protein supplements due to their healthier and safer properties compared to animal-based products. Therefore, the growing consumers' preference surrounding food safety amidst the pandemic is expected to boost the demand for pea protein products in the upcoming years.
For instance,
- In 2020, Nestlé launched Yes! Protein bars in the U.K. & Ireland in two different flavors as almond, peanut, and double dark chocolate and cashew, blueberry, and dark chocolate powdered with nuts and peas, and each bar contains 10g of plant protein
The COVID-19 provided a substantial increase in the popularity of pea protein products, which proved to be beneficial for all manufacturers in the global pea protein market.
IMPACT ON THE PRICE OF GLOBAL PEA PROTEIN MARKET
The price of pea proteins is costly due to the technology involved in extracting protein from plants and processing it. The COVID-19 has a negative impact on the price of pea proteins due to the disruption in the import and export of raw materials, restrictions imposed by the governments, restricted movements, shut down of stores, and less availability of workers. All these factors lead to the rise in the price of pea protein products globally.
IMPACT ON THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF THE GLOBAL PEA PROTEIN MARKET
The COVID-19 crisis has majorly affected the pea protein market and its supply chain across the world. Due to the persistence of the COVID-19, lockdown restrictions were implied worldwide, which disturbed the supply chain of pea protein products and their ingredients. Because of restrictions in the movements, it was hard for the manufacturers to collect raw materials such as pea other plant-derived materials, which has, in turn, affected the manufacturing of the pea proteins. Also, the restriction movement hit the supply of global manufacturers such as Wilmar international, ADM, Cargill Inc., Kerry group, and Ingredion Incorporated. During the COVID-19 outbreak, restriction movement across the countries made it hard for them to supply their products in the global market.
Also, the restriction movement hit the supply of global manufacturers, which made it difficult for them to supply their products in the global market. With the COVID-19 outbreak, the demand for pea proteins was initially decreased due to lack of awareness, change in consumer's preference, restriction on the trading process, and loss of labor due to movement restrictions.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES BY MANUFACTURERS
With the increased demand for healthy essential products, the manufacturers are taking new initiatives for pea protein products availability even during COVID-19 time. Greater awareness of how consuming plant ingredients can assist immune systems has helped many companies to gain market share. In addition, manufacturers partner with other companies to launch new technology or products, acquire them, or merge with them.
With the growing demand for plant-based foods all over the globe, the manufacturers are launching various pea protein products.
For instances,
- In December 2020, Ingredion launched its first-ever protein isolate named VITESSENCE Pulse 1803 pea protein to meet increasing consumer demand for protein-rich products in a broad range of on-trend categories.
- In December 2019, Cargill, Incorporated launched RadipureTM, a pea protein developed and manufactured in Asia, to support the ever-increasing Asian consumer market and demand for plant-based proteins.
Moreover, with surging demand, key manufacturers are expanding their business and investing in the ongoing trend of plant protein to meet consumer demand.
For instance,
- In November 2021, Roquette informed the opening of the world’s largest pea protein plant, further extending its leadership position to meet the surging global demand for pea proteins.
- In August 2019, Cargill Incorporated invested $75 million in Puris, the largest North American producer of pea protein. The investment will help Puris to double its pea protein production and will position the company to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for its category-leading pea proteins
Thus, the increasing number of launches, business expansion, investment partnerships by manufacturers to develop products to fulfill the rising demand for pea proteins is expected to boost growth.
Conclusion
Pandemic has taken a toll on every aspect of life, including the global economy. With the significant downfalls in many sectors, a collaborative effort of government, industry players, and consumers can win the fight against COVID-19. Consumer awareness about high immunity has become a legitimate concern during these pandemic circumstances.
Consumers are also shifting their buying presences from offline to online retails to maintain social distancing. Lockdown, mostly all over the world, has resulted in disruption in the supply and demand chain. All sectors, including pea proteins, have to suffer from various problems such as labor unavailability, inability to access markets, and lack of resources and raw material. However, the situation improves as the restrictions have been lifted in many countries, and the supply chain issues have been sorted out. Therefore, the pea protein market is supposed to grow significantly in the coming years due to the improved supply chain and consumer awareness about growing benefits from plant-based protein sources such as pea protein.
