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Meat substitutes continue to trend in Germany

The market for vegetarian or vegan alternatives to meat continues to grow, with production up 6.5% compared to 2021.

Vegetarian and vegan meat substitute products. Production in Germany. Source: Destatis.

In 2022, companies in Germany produced 6.5% more meat substitutes than in the previous year, and compared to 2019, production increased by 72.7%, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In 2022, 104,300 tons of meat substitute products were produced, compared with about 97,900 tons in the previous year. The value of these products increased by 17.3% year-on-year in 2022 to 537.4 million euros (2021: 458.2 million euros). The number of companies producing in Germany also increased from 44 in 2021 to 51 last year.

Despite this increase, the value of meat substitutes is relatively low compared to meat products. In 2022, the value of meat and meat products produced in Germany was €42.4 billion - nearly 80 times the value of meat substitutes. In 2019, the value of meat and meat products produced in Germany (40.1 billion euros) was almost 150 times that of meat substitutes (around 0.3 billion euros).