Sales Data
- From 1996 to 2009, soyfoods sales have increased from $1 billion to $4.5 billion over 13 years. This increase can be attributed to new soyfood categories being introduced, soyfoods 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 Soyfoods Sales from 1996 – 2009 (pdf).
- Sales of some categories of soyfoods 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, tofu, and other soyfoods. New soyfood categories (i.e. soy-based drinks, drinkable cultured soy, soy dairy free frozen desserts, and energy bars) are emerging with strong and steady growth. The wide variety of soyfoods 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 2010, published by Soyatech, Inc. and SPINS. For more information, contact Soyatech at 800.424.SOYA, or by email at customerservice@soyatech.com. The below chart represents our most recent sales figures.
| Product | 2007 Sales | 2008 Sales | 2009 Sales | Difference Between 2008 to 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
* baked goods, entrees, cereal, pasta, meal replacement, powdered soy beverages, chips, snack foods, low-carb food |
||||
| Tofu | $245 | $257 | $251 | - 2.3% |
| Soymilk | $1,058 | $1,094 | $1,023 | - 6.4% |
| Meat Alternatives | $573 | $621 | $636 | 2.4% |
| Energy Bars | $744 | $780 | $796 | 2.1% |
| Soy Cheese, Cultured soy & Frozen Soy Desserts | $219 | $223 | $206 | - 7.6% |
| Other* | $1,229 | $1,623 | $1,588 | - 2.1% |
| Total | $4,068 | $4,598 | $4,500 | - 2.1% |
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 soyfood brands and their own store brands of soy products.
- Three quarters of the sales of soyfoods and drinks now come from supermarkets, according to the Mintel, June 2006 Soy-based Food and Drink Report.
Consumer Attitudes
- Thirty-seven percent of Americans consume soyfoods or soy beverages once a month or more, approximately five percentage points higher than during the period between 2006 and 2008. Conversely, 35 percent indicate that they never consume soy, which has decreased steadily since 2006 (then at 43 percent).
- Approximately 31 percent of U.S. consumers seek out products containing soy and approximately 35 percent of consumers are aware of specific health benefits of soy in their diet.
- In 2010, over 84 percent of consumers perceived soy products as healthy on an aided basis. On par with last year, this number also reflects a dramatic increase of
17 percentage points in the perceived healthiness of soy products over the last 13 years. - On an unaided basis, consumers most frequently mention the following specific health benefits of soy: heart-healthy (25 percent, up significantly from 18 percent in 2009), low in fat (17 percent), source of protein (16 percent), good for you (14 percent) and cholesterol-lowering (10 percent).
- Dinner is the most popular meal time for consuming soy products (39 percent); followed by breakfast (30 percent), lunch (22 percent), mid-afternoon snacking (19 percent), late evening snacking (13 percent), mid-morning snacking (9 percent) and desserts (5 percent).
- Consumers rank soybean oil among the top four healthy oils, with 69 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 (at 72 percent most frequently used).
- Thirty-one percent of consumers say they are aware of the FDA claim that consuming 25 grams of soy protein per day reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. Forty-five percent agree with the health claim.
- For more information: United Soybean Board 2010 Consumer Attitudes Report (pdf)
