The global bakery and cereals market is predicted to value $364 billion by 2012, a report dubbed “Innovation and Market Drivers in Bakery and Cereals: Fast growth markets and strategies for adding value” said on Thursday. The expansion is being driven by fast growth markets such as China and India, it said. The European and North American markets are now highly mature and low growth, and bakery and cereals have reached a level of saturation in many markets. To counter both this and the high levels of private label saturation, bakery and cereals manufacturers are attempting to differentiate their brands, especially in growth areas such as healthy and convenient bakery products. Ownership of a niche segment or proprietary ingredients is a key way bakery and cereals manufacturers can add value to their products and increase their market share. “Innovation and Market Drivers in Bakery and Cereals: Fast growth markets and strategies for adding value” is a management report analyzes key trends in the bakery and cereals market and forecasts future growth opportunities. It provides a detailed examination of the bakery and cereals market by region, category and maturity to provide unique insights into the factors shaping the market now and in the future. The report highlighted, among others, that the largest category in the bakery and cereals market is bread and rolls, which reached $171 billion in 2008. The bread and rolls segment, showed the slowest rate of growth. The key emerging bakery and cereals markets are China, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia, Columbia, Chile and India. In the US, the number of people aged 65 and over is projected to increase from 39 million in 2010 to 69 million in 2030. About 20 percent of the total population will be over 65 in 2030, compared to about 13 percent currently. Personalized products have experienced a large growth since 2006. These products correspond to the individual taste of consumers incorporating their nutritional needs and personality, the report said. The report noted that the older population (aged 65 and over) provides a key opportunity for bakery and cereals manufacturers to address products which directly target the nutrient needs of older needs, as this population is increasing rapidly. The increase of private label in bakery and cereal products has increased the pressure for manufacturers to differentiate their brands, especially in growth areas such as healthy and convenient bakery products, the report added. It pointed out that NPD in bakery and cereals market is still being dominated by health concerns, including increasing diabetes and obesity rates, particularly among children. The health trend is overlapping both indulgence and convenience trends as consumers drive innovation in healthy indulgent and healthy convenient products. In mature markets, it said “where artisanal bakery takes a very low share, there is significant activity in very premium artisanal bakery - as more affluent consumers turn away from industrially produced bread and purchase high end bread as a treat, fostering a new wave of premiumization in in-store bakery as it tries to compete.” __
