ALMOND DRINKS MARKET ANALYSIS

Almond drinks, also called almond milk, is prepared from crushed almond nuts and water and has a pleasant flavor and creamy texture similar to regular milk. Almond contains proteins, vitamins and fibers and acts as a rich source of energy. ‘Free from dairy and gluten’, is the most highlighting property of almond drink, which make it popular among Lactose intolerant and gluten sensitive consumers. Almond milk is preferred in food industry to manufacture cheese, deserts, snacks and beverages like cold pressed milks and others. Most of the dairy products contains high calories and lactose in it whereas almond drink contains no cholesterol or saturated fat, low sodium and high healthy fats (such as omega fatty acids), which helps in reducing the risk of high blood pressure and heart diseases.

Consumption of almond drinks offers excellent benefits in weight management, maintaining bone health, muscle strength and smooth digestion. Almond milk contains 50 percent of the recommended daily amount of vitamin E, which contains antioxidant properties essential to skin's health, such as protecting it against sun damage. Almond drink is low in carbohydrate so that it don’t significantly increase blood sugar level consecutively reducing risk of diabetes. Thiamin is a water soluble vitamin B present in almond plays critical role in energy metabolism and therefore in growth, development and function of cells.

Key factors like increasing preference of almond drink as a milk alternative, better taste than milk, easy to prepare, high nutritional value, and increasing demand for on-the-go liquid products are estimated to have positive impact on growth of almond drink market across the globe during forecast period. However, factors such as high prices of almonds, availability of other plant based dairy alternatives such as soy and pea based drinks are retraining growth of the market.

Global Almond Drinks Market Taxonomy:

Global almond drinks market is segmented on the basis of product type, flavor and distribution channel as:

By product type,

• Unsweetened
• Sweetened

By flavor,

• Chocolate
• Vanilla
• Others

By distribution channel,

• Hypermarket
• Supermarket
• Online Stores
• Others

Unsweetened segment dominated global almond drinks market in 2016. Rising prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases are boosting demand for unsweetened drinks. According to the World Health Organization in 2016, about 10% of Chinese adults live with diabetes, and nearly half of all adults are pre-diabetic, a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal. In addition, according to China International Diabetes federation, in 2017, there were over 114 million cases of diabetes in China. Such factors represents potential opportunity for growth of unsweetened almond drinks segment over the forecast period.

Chocolate flavor segment contributed major market share global almond drinks market in 2016. Owing to increasing demand for chocolate flavored almond drinks as a substitute to dairy chocolate milk, the segment is projected to lead the market throughout the forecast period. 

Global Almond Drinks Market outlook:

• North America accounted for highest market share in the market in 2016. The growth of almond drinks market in North America is mainly attributed to increasing demand for dairy free drinks from lactose intolerant people. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, in North America over 40 million American adults were lactose intolerant in 2017.
• Europe is projected to indicate significant growth in the market throughout the forecast period. Leading market players are strategically investing into Europe to tap potential market of plant based drinks. In April 2017, Alpro and Danone entered into collaboration to expand plant based food and drinks business. Under this collaboration, Alpro will be able to expand its distribution & geographical foot prints of plant based drinks including almond drinks across Europe and the world. Such activities by leading players are projected to have positive impact on growth of almond drinks market in Europe.

Key players in Global Almond Drinks Market:

Some of the key players across the global almond drink market are Fuerst Day Lawson, Pressery Inc., The Luz Almo company Pvt Ltd, Alpro, Provamel, MALK Organics, Dream, Nutriops S,L, Natura Foods, Rude Health, Blue Diamond Growers are among others.

Key Developments:

• In October 2019, the U.S.-based beverage manufacturer Blue Diamond expanded its Almond Breeze brand with the launch of Almond Milk Hot Chocolate.
• In August 2019, British supermarket chain Lidl had started offering vegan milk with almond and oat flavor under its Just Free line.
• In May 2019, an Indian-based conglomerate ITC Limited planned to export its almond-based dairy beverage to the Middle East market, majorly to Saudi Arabia & Dubai.
• In September 2018, the Spanish company Nectin launched organic almond beverages to sell in Spain and France.
• After the successful launch of Starbucks’ almond milk in the U.S. in 2016, the company had launched its product in the Indian market on April 16, 2018.