MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Study shows Brazilians eat fewer proteins

Brazilians have the intention to consume, but there is the impediment of high prices today, the director of the platform carrying out the survey explained

Brazilians have reduced their intake of red meat protein, according to a study published Monday by Agencia Brasil. Even sausages and hot dogs have lost importance on the consumer's table, it was reported.

A survey conducted by the online platform Kantar in the first quarter of this year with 3,800 people revealed that the consumption of proteins has fallen on the Brazilian table, except pork. As a result of inflation, protein consumption fell 9% in the period, against -6% in the food and beverage segment.

“Proteins, in general, have been falling, some more intensely, like beef. But we see, since the beginning of the higher inflationary scenario, that protein consumption has been lower since last year,” Aurelia Vicente, director of Kantar's Usage Panel, Worldpanel Division, told Agência Brasil on Monday.

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

Aurelia Vicente pointed out that even the cheaper proteins, such as sausages, which stood out in 2022, lost importance on the Brazilian table when compared to the first quarter of last year. The consumption of sausages fell significantly. In the short term, poultry meat consumption also shows a recovery and, after a price increase in 2022, the share goes 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 presenting a retraction compared to 2021 (6%).

According to Aurelia Vicente, even by the beginning of the most recent scenario of falling inflation, a resumption in the consumption of chicken meat is being noticed: ”It is a scenario that comes very much from the need to balance [the consumer's] pocket. People want to continue to have some protein on their plates and end up going for something that fits in their pockets. We see the movement of these cheaper proteins (sausages and sausages) gaining space, not only in the lower classes but mainly in these classes, becoming precisely the main protein. That is, gaining this space that was previously very strong in beef and poultry.“

For the director of Kantar, in the short and medium term, the question will depend on the behavior of prices. ”Brazil has a preference for beef and chicken, and when people have the possibility, they will buy again with more intensity,” said Vicente. 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 products and minerals traded in foreign markets), such as rice and beans. Brazilians have the intention to consume, but there is the impediment of high prices today, she pointed out.

Since 2020, the Kantar platform conducts similar surveys every week, listening to 3,800 people.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)