Baking&Snack International - January 2012 - 8

Australian bread goes premium
By Chris Brockman Bread accounts for the vast majority of packaged baked foods sold in Australia. The country’s packaged bakery market was valued at almost AUD$1.8 billion (US$1.85 billion) in 2010 and has seen consistently strong growth in recent years. Sales of bread and bread products now total AUD$1.6 billion (US$1.64 billion), with cakes, other sweet and savory bakery being much smaller sectors. Growth in value sales exceeded volume during the past five years, reflecting the rise in prices and a shift in product mix toward more premium product offerings in some segments of the bread market. Between 2011 and 2015, Mintel predicts value sales to rise by a further 6 to 8% per year as this ongoing shift to more premium products continues. With the penetration of total grocery bakery at 99.5% of households, the category is almost at the saturation point. Encouraging new consumers to enter the category is not an option so growth must rely on encouraging existing consumers to spend more and spend more often. The key to these two elements lies in bread expanding further into new categories and roles. To nurture more frequent consumption, bakers have the option to develop snack products and increase the opportunity to consume. To encourage higher consumer spending, the key players in this market need to create another layer of complexity and develop additional specialty products for the premium sector of the market. products made from more familiar grains such as refined flour and whole wheat. They have an authentic quality, with their use dating back for centuries, and they are very much in line with an Australian consumer focused on purity and naturalness. For those consumers who seek that extra detail in the products they select and study on-pack nutritional data, ancient grains have strong health credentials. As food intolerances increase, with food allergies in children aged 0 to 4 years increasing fivefold over the past decade, so does the appeal of these grains. Most ancient grains contain no gluten and provide highquality, gluten-free alternatives to regular bread options. This authentic gourmet appeal, unique taste and texture, and focus on health all work together to drive the premium status and value of bread products. Recent innovation within Australia has included the use of ancient grains along with healthy seeds such as flaxseed and pumpkin seeds.

Ancient grains lead the way
Australia’s bakers now employ a number of different strategies to develop new premium offerings for the bread category, one of which is to formulate with ancient grains including quinoa, sorghum, amaranth, millet and chia. The reason is that ancient grains play a number of different roles for consumers. On a very basic level, they create a point of difference and stand out on the shelf compared with other bread

Australian packaged bakery market grows
Volume (1,000 tonnes) % change Value (AUD$ million) % change
Mintel Global Market Navigator

2005 226.9

2006 240.6 6.0

2007 247 .1 2.7 1,419.1 6.2

2008 254.0 2.8 1,528.1 7 .7

2009 259.1 2.0 1,620.0 6.0

2010 268.3 3.6 1,763.4 8.9

1,246.2

1,336.0 7 .2

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January 2012

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Baking & Snack International Global Intelligence Report

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Baking&Snack International - January 2012

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