Africa Protein Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2026

The Africa Protein Market stood at 1.94 billion usd in 2021 and is projected to register a CAGR of 3.04% to reach 2.25 billion usd in 2026.

Key Highlights
Largest Segment by Source - Plant : The animal feed and F&B industries drove the plant protein segment in the region. Soy protein remained the most favored type due to its low cost and excellent quality.
Largest Segment by End User - Food and Beverages : The higher supply of plant proteins like rice, pea, and wheat proteins that can mimic meat texture, together with protein fortification, is catering to the segment.
Fastest Growing Segment by Source - Plant : The fastest growth of plant proteins is aided by the growth of the F&B industry, mainly bakery and snacks. Pea protein remained the region’s fastest-growing plant protein.
Fastest Growing Segment by End User - Personal Care and Cosmetics : The rise in demand for natural ingredients and protein-enriched skin, body, and hair care products drives the segment. The segment is projected to attain the fastest growth.

Key Market Trends

Largest Segment By End User : Food and Beverages

Animal protein intake in the F&B sector remains the highest. Its value share increased to 87% in 2020, from 85.2% in 2019. This was mostly due to increased hoarding and panic purchasing amid the pandemic’s unexpected lockdowns. Bakery, one of the most important F&B sectors, registered a Y-o-Y growth rate of 23% in 2020.
However, in the forecast period, the personal care segment is set to register a CAGR of 5.23%. The increasing number of beauty clinics, rising per capita expenditure on personal appearance, robust regulatory framework, and growing beauty and cosmetics market are the factors propelling the ingredient demand in the region.
Also, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the regional foodservice industry’s fragility, thus, driving consumers to the retail sector. This increased the demand for RTC foods, such as frozen dinner foods and pizzas. As a consequence, the RTE/RTC food business expanded by 13.63% Y-o-Y in 2020.

Largest Country : Nigeria

By country, Nigeria registered its dominance in the African protein market, followed by South Africa, in 2020, owing to the constant rise in veganism among the Nigerian population. Plant proteins are popular in Nigeria, especially soy protein, which has a low cost and high protein content. For instance, in 2020, soy protein isolates cost 36.74% less than pea protein isolates in the rest of Africa. Hence, as acceptance progresses, the market is expected to record a positive CAGR of 3.04% over the forecast period.
On the other hand, animal proteins also witnessed demand in Nigeria’s market. For instance, it was estimated in 2011 that 13.4% of the consumption expenditure of an average Ethiopian consumer was devoted to animal-sourced foods. South Africa is another leading market, largely led by soy protein applications in animal feed. The comparatively bigger animal feed industry of the country, which accounts for a 33.04% share of the overall African animal feed sector, further catered to the growth of the South African market.

Competitive Landscape

The Africa Protein Market is fragmented, with the top five companies occupying 6.23%. The major players in this market are Amesi Group, DuPont de Nemours Inc, Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited, Hilmar Cheese Company, Inc. and Kerry Group plc (sorted alphabetically).

Additional Benefits:

The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
3 months of analyst support