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Summary of our market study
The French soup market is estimated at 475 million euros in 2022
from 2020 onwards, the European industrial soup market experienced a downward trend in production and demand. While European soup production stood at $2.6 billion, with negative annual growth of -1.3%, the French market was harder hit, with an 8% drop.
France accounts for around 15% of European production, but its domestic consumption has fallen considerably.
Continental Foods and Unilever dominate the market through brands such as Liebig and Royco.
The shift in demand towards classic, natural and organic soups is noticeable, with Knorr leading the organic segment and brands like La Potagère focusing on the wellness positioning.
Decline in the industrial soup market
Whereas between 15 and 20 million French people used to consume soups on a regular basis, the figure has now dropped to just over 16 million.
New generations are turning away from soups, regarding them less as a "real meal".
This change has led to a marked shift from instant and dehydrated soups to fresher variants, perceived as the closest to home-style quality.
While demand for hot soups declines in winter, consumption of cold soups such as gazpacho increases in summer.
Manufacturers are adapting to consumers' rejection of the glutamate used to amplify flavors and of salt.
French soup market players
- Continental Food France takes center stage thanks to its dominant presence and the strength of its Liebig and Royco brands.
Unilever France is another global giant with a strong presence in soup production with its Knorr brand - PepsiCo France is also present in the soup market.
- La Potagère, a brand that stands out for its commitment to naturalness and well-being.
- Soup'Idéale artisanal soup
- Carrefour, supermarket chains and Picard Surgelés offer their own private label products
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Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Market overview and definition
Soup is a liquid culinary preparation, most often based on cooked vegetables, which can be served hot or cold.
Generally speaking, soup is made up of vegetables and legumes, such as beans or lentils, but these ingredients are sometimes combined with animal proteins (meat, fish, milk, eggs, cheese), fats or oils.animal proteins (meat, fish, milk, eggs, cheese), fats (lard, butter, oils, creme fraiche) and, more rarely, fruit.
Different types of soup can be distinguished (non-exhaustive list):
- Vegetable soups (fresh, canned, instant, dehydrated);
- Cold soups (gazpacho);
- Fish soups (bisque).
A standard of practice exists for vegetable soups, to provide consumers with a guarantee of quality: to qualify for the "soup" label, a product must contain at least 40% vegetables. Otherwise, the product will be considered a vegetable juice.
In 2023, the European soup production market was worth 2.29 billion euros. While the French soup market had been on a downward trend since 2013, in 2023 soup production sales in France rose by 35%, and the coverage rate, which had fallen considerably in recent years, rose by 9 percentage points to 37%.
While soup brands have redoubled their efforts in recent years to better segment their products and give industrial soups a new commercial lease of life with new recipes, inflation and the French's consumption trade-offs are driving down sales in the most highly-valued sectors, such as organic soups, which fell by 10% in volume in 2023.
1.2 The European market for industrial soups
As the products in the soups category vary greatly from one region of the world to another, the European market will be presented in this section, rather than the international market, in order to obtain comparisons on comparable products.
by way of example, the Asian soup market is significant, but is ...
1.3 French market losing momentum
Domestic consumption can be used to estimate the size of the French market. Domestic consumption can be estimated using the following formula: domestic production + imports - exports. This gives a French soup market of around *** million euros in ****.
If French soup production were to follow the same downward trend as the ...
2 Demand analysis
2.1 Vegetable and soup consumption habits in France
Vegetable consumption in France:
The results of a **** Ipsos study highlight social, generational and gender inequalities in eating attitudes and behavior. The main findings are as follows:
Favored social categories (***), respectively **% vs. **% and **% vs. **%. There are also generational disparities. Young adults (***) show the lowest rate, with only **% declaring daily vegetable consumption. Vegetable ...
2.2 Other factors explaining the drop in demand
The demographic factor:
New generations are less inclined to buy industrial soups because they no longer perceive soups as a "real" meal, and thus tend to exclude them more or less unconsciously from their consumption habits[***].
Finally, industrial soups originally appealed to consumers mainly for the following reasons:
No preparation ; Quick ...
2.3 Different types of soup
French soup consumption revolves around several types of soup, divided between two departments: fresh and ambient.
Soup sales by type France, ****, % (***) Source: ****
The types of soup found in the ambient department are :
Liquid soups Dehydrated soups Instant soups
According to LSAConso, sales of liquid soups totaled *** million euros in ****, up *.*% on ...
2.4 Soup, a product whose demand remains seasonal
Soups and broths are experiencing difficulties. This summer's heatwave also had a negative impact on these weather-sensitive markets, with sales down *.*% in value terms in period *. The market is facing competition from homemade products. However, the soup category is enjoying a resurgence of interest, notably through products such as gazpacho and ...
2.5 Organic as the future of the soup market?
According to [***].
Organic share of the soup market France, ****, millions of euros Source: ****
Liebig is the leader in this sub-segment, with estimated sales of around ** million euros, representing a **% market share and growth of *.*% [***].
2.6 France's favorite brands
The graph below is based on OpinionWay's survey of the French people's favorite brands in ****. For each brand, the percentage corresponds to the proportion of respondents who answered "yes".
Knorr is France's favorite soup brand, with **.*% of respondents saying they liked it. Alvalle is the least popular soup brand, with only ...
3 Market structure
3.1 Soup market value chain
A possible value chain for the soup market is as follows:
Raw materials: the basic ingredients for soup production, such as vegetables, spices, meat or fish, are grown or purchased by producers. Production: the raw materials are transformed into soups by the soup producers, who may be industrial or small-scale enterprises. Packaging: ...
3.2 Changes in market structure
The creation of a giant:
In ****, Spanish group GB Foods took over European competitor Continental Foods, known for its Royco and Liebig soup brands.
Investment fund CVC Capital Partners, owner of Continental Foods, has sold its business to GB Foods, part of Barcelona-based Catalan family group Agrolimen for a sum valued ...
3.3 Production structure in France
This section uses data supplied by INSEE and ACOSS under NAF code **.**Z "Manufacture of other food products n.e.c.", a category in which soups account for the bulk of production.
Number of companies manufacturing soups France, ****-****, in number of companies Source: ****
Between **** and ****, the number of companies operating ...
4 Offer analysis
4.1 Product typology
Industrial vegetable soups are sold in three possible forms[***]:
Fresh soups: the closest industrial product to the homemade variety, these soups are also the most expensive due to their short shelf life and high fresh vegetable content; Brick soups: sterilized at high temperatures, these are still a relatively high-quality product in ...
4.2 Innovative industrial soups
In order to revive French consumption of industrial soups, producer brands had taken the gamble of diversifying their offering, with the aim of offering consumers a wide choice of selections and thus trying to appeal to and win the loyalty of a broad panel of occasional consumers[***].
In fact, according to ...
4.3 The latest trends
In the instant soup segment, the undisputed leader, Royco (***), with a **% market share by value, is sparing no effort. "Our exotic recipes attracted ***,*** households in ****," says Élise Méjane, Group Manager. Packaging has been redesigned and three new recipes, including two exotic ones, were launched in September. Royco's core target group, ...
4.4 Price trends for soups
According toINSEE, price trends for products such as soups have been rising overall for a number of years. Since ****, prices for food products sold off the fresh shelves (***) have risen significantly in supermarkets and hypermarkets. Prices rose by **% between **** and ****, by over **% between **** and ****, and by a further **% between **** and ****.
To ...
4.5 The health aspect
According to a survey carried out by ** millions de consommateurs in ****, do industrial soups have any interesting nutritional virtues? "According to the results of our test, nothing is less certain", says the association. And this despite the efforts of manufacturers to reduce the salt content of this type of winter ...
5 Regulations
5.1 Regulatory framework
According to BusinessWirecanned soups often contain many unhealthy preservatives. Another negative factor is the inability to control fat intake in canned soups .
The Huffington Postaccording to the Huffington Post, aromatic and additive powders (***) are added to soup recipes at the factory to give them extra flavour. Glutamate, according to EFAP Students ...
6 Positioning the players
6.1 Market segmentation
- GB Foods
- Unilever Groupe
- Soup'Ideale
- Picard Surgelés
- Sill Entreprises
- Sauces & Créations
- Alvalle
List of charts presented in this market study
- Soup sales by type
- Breakdown of soup sales by type
- Evolution of the soup price index
- Value of soup production
- Breakdown of production by country
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Latest news
Unilever in talks with funds to sell Ben & Jerry's and Magnum for 18 billion euros - 22/07/2024
- overall, ice cream will account for just 13% of sales in 2023 (59.6 billion euros)
Unilever to cut 3,200 jobs by the end of 2025 - 16/07/2024
- Total number of job cuts announced: 7,500 people
- - Number of job cuts in Europe: 3,200 people
- - Percentage of European employees affected: one-third
- - Main locations affected: London and Rotterdam
- - Disposal of ice cream division planned by end 2025: current value around 8 billion euros
- - Offer received for Knorr-branded liquid soups business in France: from Sill Entreprises group
- - Announced sale of Elida Beauty subsidiary: completion scheduled for 2024
- - Sale of Dollar Shave Club brand: to Nexus Capital Management
Picard creates an observatory dedicated to the food of tomorrow. - 21/06/2024
- - 68% of French people believe that eating seasonal produce is the key to healthy eating.
- - 42% of French people see homemade food as a solution to eating better.
- - 48% of French people prefer seasonal fruit and vegetables.
- - 46% of French people prefer fresh, local produce.
- - Over a third of French people use frozen foods to eat more fruit and vegetables every day.
- - 50% of French people adopt a more balanced diet for weight reasons.
- - Only 22% of French people make the connection between their diet and their level of immunity, and 11% with their psychological state.
- - 22% of those surveyed consider that eating well means eating organic or pesticide residue-free products.
- - 17% prefer Nutri-score A and B or label products.
- - 46% of 18-24 year-olds cite lack of time as an obstacle to eating well.
- - 53% of French people see frozen products as a quick and economical way to eat a balanced diet.
- - 20% of those surveyed perceive frozen products as being of lower quality than fresh.
- - 57% of French people want brands committed to products from local agriculture
- - 44% of French people want brands to pay producers well.
Liebig diversifies into Japanese noodles - 11/06/2024
- Spain's GB Foods, owner of the Liebig and Royco soup brands, is entering the Asian instant noodle market in France.
- The instant noodle market has doubled in value to €118 million in 5 years, and gained 50% in volume
- A growth driver for the Spanish company, which has just built a plant dedicated to Asian noodles in southern Spain
- This activity already accounts for 11% of Group sales
- Group sales: 1.5 billion euros
- The group offers its ranges under several brand names, depending on the country: Aiki in Belgium, Yatekomo in Spain, Saikebon in Italy, three countries where the group is market leader with almost 60% market share in value, and now Daisuki in France.
Picard, the best recipes from the king of frozen foods - 20/05/2024
- - Freezers in over 90% of homes today
- - Picard's EY Parthenon ranking: fourth place, behind Action, Décathlon and Leroy Merlin.
- - Number of Picard outlets: over 1,000.
- - Percentage of Picard capital held by the Zouari family since 2019: 49%, with a call option to increase their stake to a further 51% held by British fund Lion Capital.
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the soup market | France
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