According to a new report from Technavio, the global bread and rolls market will grow by nearly $29 billion from 2015 to 2020, to reach a total value of $215.8 billion.
(We would like to say that we’re not going to rely heavily on bread puns in our market analysis, but sometimes you just knead to go there.)
Associated British Foods, Barilla Group, Goodman Fielder, and Yamazaki Baking are four of the top vendors in this market. Click here to find out more.
Despite the climbing numbers, Technavio still sees some challenges on the horizon for the global bread and rolls market.
Threat of substitutes
The preservatives, artificial colorants, and sweeteners often found in packaged bread are a big turn off for health-conscious consumers. Many people are turning to homemade products, or shunning bread altogether, which is having a negative impact on the market. Additionally, consumers are spoiled for choice; cereals, English muffins, pastries and croissants all chip away at the overall market share of bread and threaten the dominance of the plain old loaf.
Global bread and rolls market by type 2015 ($ billions)
Source: Technavio, 2015
Highly fragmented market
The global bread and rolls market is highly fragmented with the presence of many small and large manufacturers. All these players compete in the market with very similar products. Since there’s a serious lack of differentiating factors between the various products offered by these vendors, it’s hard for them to gain consumer loyalty. This leads to intense competition among vendors, as well as price volatility.
And last but not yeast (okay, we’re done):
Increasing raw material cost
The costs for the four major raw materials in bread—flour, sugar, salt, and milk—are rising. This bumps up the cost of producing these products. Manufacturers have two options in this situation. They can absorb the costs and take the financial hit, or they can pass that cost onto consumers, and risk their customers jumping ship. These climbing costs restrict the kinds of products a company can introduce, which eventually hurts the market. This will continue to be a big hurdle for the global bread and rolls market through the forecast period.
