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Sales and Trends
Sales Data
- From 1992 to 2006, soy foods sales have increased from $300 million to $3.9 billion over 14 years. This increase can be attributed to new soy food categories being introduced, soy foods being repositioned in the market place, and new customers selecting soy for health and philosophical reasons.
- Dramatic growth followed the FDA approval of a health claim linking soy with heart disease reduction. Click here for a Soy Food Sales From 1992 - 2006 (pdf).
- Between 2005 and 2006 there was a 1.4% increase in overall soy foods sales. This represents a general leveling off of sales, but some categories, like soymilk, have experienced greater growth and others such as energy bars have not. Since many consumers have now incorporated soy into their diets and supermarkets have brought soy foods to their shelves, new growth spurts for soy will come with more consumers making a commitment to following healthier diets and more consensus evidence linking soy with disease prevention.
- Sales of some categories of soy foods have slowed down in growth in the retail market, but other categories have experienced more significant growth. The growing opportunities in food service should also boost sales of meat alternatives, soymilk (soy milk), tofu, and other soy foods. New soy food categories (i.e. soy-based drinks, drinkable cultured soy, soy dairy free frozen desserts, soy entrees, pastas and snack foods) are emerging with strong and steady growth. The wide variety of soy foods will help consumers meet the 2005 federal Dietary Guidelines that call for eating foods like soy that are high in fiber, omega 3 fatty acids, key vitamins and minerals and lower in saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories.
- Source: Soyfoods: The U.S. Market 2007, published by Soyatech, Inc. and SPINS. For more information contact Soyatech at 800.424.SOYA, or by email at data@soyatech.com. The below chart represents our most recent sales figures.
| Product |
2004 Sales |
2005 Sales |
2006 Sales |
Increase From 2005 to 2006 |
| * baked goods, entrees, cereal, pasta, meal replacement, powdered soy beverages, chips, snack foods, low-carb food |
| Tofu |
$261 |
$258 |
$250 |
-3% |
| Soymilk |
$745 |
$832 |
$892 |
7.2% |
| Meat Alternatives |
$547 |
$554 |
$568 |
2.5% |
| Energy Bars |
$870 |
$709 |
$692 |
-2.4% |
| Soy Cheese, Yogurt & Ice Cream |
$217 |
$215 |
$214 |
-0.3% |
| Other* |
$1,356 |
$1,350 |
$1,356 |
0.4% |
| Total |
$3,996 |
$3,918 |
$3,972 |
1.4% |
New Soy Products
- From 2000 to 2007, food manufacturers in the U.S. introduced over 2,700 new foods with soy as an ingredient, including 161 new products introduced in 2007 alone. The 1999 FDA approved health claim for soy and heart health brought many new introductions, leading to 406 new products in 2001, 278 in 2002, 336 in 2003, 448 in 2004, 291 in 2005, and 471 in 2006 according to the Mintel Global New Products Database.
- Soy products have historically been associated almost exclusively with natural foods stores. However, supermarkets have recently begun carrying both national soy food brands and their own store brands of soy products.
- Three quarters of the sales of soy foods and drinks now come from supermarkets, according to the Mintel, June 2006 Soy-based Food and Drink Report.
Consumer Attitudes
- Thirty-three percent of Americans consume soy foods or soy beverages once a month or more.
- Over three in five consumers agree consuming soy-based foods can play a role in reducing obesity, with significantly more strongly agreeing with this statement than in 2006.
- In 2007, 85 percent of consumers perceive soy products as healthy, up three points from 2006.
- Over half of consumers have tried soy foods or beverages in restaurants. Over one third would order soy products (namely, a soy veggie burger or soymilk (soy milk)) if they could find soy on their restaurant’s menu.
- Consumers ranked soybean oil among the top three healthy oils, with 70 percent recognizing soy oil as a healthy oil. Consumers depend on soybean oil, commonly sold as vegetable oil, as one of their two most frequent cooking oils.
- Over one-third of consumers (37 percent) said they are aware of the FDA claim that consuming 25 grams of soy protein per day reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. Eighty-four percent either agree with the health claim or would like more information.
- For more information: United Soybean Board 2007Consumer Attitudes Report (pdf)
