Kerry has signed a partnership to support the creation of more sustainable dairy alternative products, enhancing market growth for the plant-based category in Asia-Pacific.
The agreement, which will see Kerry support technology development, applications and enzymes, flavours, maskers and nutrition, is a step towards the creation of a dairy alternative expertise ecosystem, where other ingredients and processing partners are invited be part of the collective to accelerate the move towards sustainable nutrition solutions.
The collaboration between Kerry and Unigrain, an Australian producer of plant-based food and beverage ingredients, will offer food and beverage brands and manufacturers access to a combination of ingredients, R&D and processing solutions to craft delicious and nutritious oat milk and other applications using Australian-grown oats.
Both companies will recommend the other party’s solutions to their customers, with the goal of offering the best solutions for oat-based applications. Kerry and Unigrain will also co-create a range of applications to showcase to their customers across Asia-Pacific.
Commenting on the partnership, Didier Chanove, business development director for plant alternatives at Kerry Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, said: “We are excited to be collaborating with Unigrain. As our current supplier of oat flour, Unigrain is now our partner to drive an ambitious plant-based growth plan in keeping with Asia-Pacific’s fast-growing dairy alternative industry, estimated at more than USD5bn, with an expected 16.3% CAGR to reach USD12bn by 20281. Combining our end-to-end capabilities with Unigrain’s unique oat expertise and production infrastructure, we are excited to be the force for change in the next phase of growth in the dairy alternative space.”
Fiona May, co-CEO of Unigrain, said: “We are proud to be partnering Kerry to help drive awareness, thought leadership and category growth in the dairy alternative sector. In Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, oat milk has overtaken almond as the number two dairy alternative among new product development in the region2. As the leading oat expert in Australia and Asia, our investment in advanced oat milk and oat ingredient production will help drive multiple benefits to these markets. With our combined expertise, we provide an incredibly strong offering that can deliver highly optimised solutions and enable the development and manufacture of high quality sustainable functional ingredients, bringing significant value to customers.”
References
1 https://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/asia-pacific-dairy-alternatives-market
2 Euromonitor and Innova 2021 Data, Milk & Milk Alternative in APAC 2022
