The U.S. plant milk market is a $2 billion industry that grew by 6.4 percent last year. According to the National Consumer Panel, 41 percent of U.S. households purchased plant-based milk alternatives in 2022 and 76 percent of these customers turned out to be repeat purchasers. This is despite the fact that plant milks were on average 87 percent more expensive in the country than traditional cow's milk that year. A majority of respondents who buy plant milk said it was healthier and that they liked the taste, but one third also mentioned the environment as a purchasing driver.
However, U.S. consumers are routinely buying the least environmentally friendly among plant milks - almond milk. It uses almost 60 percent of the water that is needed for an equal amount of cow's milk, compared to just 43 percent for rice milk and just 8 percent and 4 percent for oat and soy milk, respectively. As of June 2022, 12 months worth of U.S. almond milk sales came to almost $1.3 billion. That's a long way ahead of oat milk's sales which were worth around $528 million. Soy milk was the only other plant milk turning over more than $100 million in annual sales, while coconut, pea, rice and cashew play a smaller role in the market.
As California produces 80 percent of the world's almonds, U.S. almond milk supply exclusively comes from the drought-stricken state. In terms of CO2, plant milk's footprints are more similar to one another at 0.7-1.2 kg per liter compared to 3.2 kg for cow's milk, with almond milk actually exhibiting the smallest footprint.
The positive aspects of oat milk seem to have gained more attention recently, however, as the milk substitute was embraced by conscious brands. Oat milk sales rose by more than 50 percent between June 2021 and June 2022, according to industry source SPINS. Pea milk, which has been making strides because of its high protein content that rivals soy, grew sales by 27 percent, albeit to a still rather low $60 million.
