High price leads Brazilians to reduce protein consumption

“Proteins, in general, have been falling, some more intensively, in the case of beef. But we see, since the beginning of the higher inflationary scenario, that protein consumption is lower than last year”, he said this Monday (12) to Brazil Agency the director of the Kantar Usage Panel, Worldpanel Division, Aurelia Vicente.

Beef, which had a 43.1% share in the first quarter of 2021, is now at 39%. The downward trajectory was already signaled in the same period of 2022, when consumption fell to 40.5%. Pork, on the other hand, did the opposite, rising from 4.6%, between January and March 2021, to 7.6%, in the same period of 2022 and, this year, to 9.1%.

Aurelia Vicente highlighted that even the cheapest proteins, such as sausages and sausages, which stood out in 2022, lost importance on the Brazilian table compared to the first quarter of last year. Consumption of sausages fell from 15.4% to 14.9% and sausages, from 4.8% to 3.8%. In the short term, poultry meat consumption is also recovering and, after rising prices in 2022, the share increases from 25.9% to 28.6% in the first quarter of 2023.

Fish and seafood showed stability in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period in 2022, with a 4.3% share, although showing a decrease in relation to 2021 (6%).

future scenario

According to Aurelia Vicente, even at the beginning of the most recent scenario of falling inflation, a resumption of consumption of chicken meat, for example, is already beginning to be seen. “It is a scenario that comes a lot from the need to balance the pocket (of the consumer). People want to keep some protein on their plate and end up going for something that fits inside their pocket. We see the movement of these cheaper proteins (sausages and sausages) gaining this space, not only in lower classes, but mainly in these classes, becoming precisely the main protein. That is, gaining this space that used to be very strong for cattle and poultry.”

For the Kantar director, in the short and medium term, the issue will depend on the behavior of prices. “Brazil has a preference for beef and chicken and, when people have the possibility, they will go back to buying more intensively”, said Aurelia. She pointed out that this will be a reflection of the behavior of prices, not only of meat, but of other categories that are commodities (agricultural and mineral products sold on the foreign market), such as rice and beans”. The Brazilian intends to consume, but there is the impediment of high prices nowadays, he pointed out.

Since 2020, the Kantar platform has carried out similar surveys weekly, listening to 3,800 people.