After experiencing a record-breaking drought in Canada that severely impacted pea crop yield, the vegan food market is set to face challenges. Many of the plant-based companies, which include Beyond Meat and Meatless Farm, rely on pea protein to create their line of products.
Canada is one of the largest pea-producing regions worldwide, and they experienced the worst drought in the last century. The drought covered more than 90 percent of agricultural land in western Canada and badly affected 45.9 million acres of cropland.
This caused a 45 percent drop in pea production, which caused pea prices to increase by 120 percent compared to last year which will unfortunately be transferred to customers.
“The plant protein sector is facing an unprecedented situation that is strongly impacting the market: tight raw material supply capacity while the global demand for plant proteins is growing significantly, driven by a strong consumer demand for healthier nutrition and sustainable food,” Roquette commented.
(Roquette Food Technology)
Peas are increasingly cropping up on the ingredient lists of vegan meat and dairy, in 2018, more than 750 new pea-related foods reached store shelves, according to Mintel.
Today, companies use peas to make everything from burgers to mac ‘n’ cheese to vegan milk to dairy-free ice cream (Ripple Foods).
Jeremy Burks is the Senior Vice President of Plant Proteins at Roquette said in a statement:
“We know our customers are watching the raw material prices and availability closely and they can rely on our huge investments to shorten the supply chains and help them mitigate some of this significant cost increase.”
He later added: “The short term is a serious challenge, but we are making certain that customers can look forward with confidence.”
