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Just three decades
after soy milk was introduced to the United States, the product
is making its move from a niche marketplace to the mainstream.
Marketing giants
like General Mills and DuPont Protein Technologies have joined
the soy milk market in the past two years, and distributors
are beginning to launch widespread advertising and coupon
campaigns.
Soy milk sales
reached about $700 million in 2002, however, even with its
growing popularity that is only about one percent of dairy
sold. Comparatively, soft drink sales reached $63 billion
in 2002, milk sales $10 billion and bottled water sales $8
billion.
Distributors see
these numbers as an opportunity to gain market share, and
already the number of soy milk makers has increased from several
to more than 50 in the past 20 years.
Soy milk is a combination
of whole soybean solids or soy proteins and water. However,
converting the soybean, which was mainly used to feed animals
in the United States through the 1970s, into something that
is suitable for human consumption is not an easy task. Some
soy manufacturers have not been able to master the technique
and their products reflect that.
Adding to soy milk’s
popularity was its move to the refrigerated dairy case, which
makes Americans associate it with traditional milk. Prior
to this, most soy milks were sold in unrefrigerated grocery
aisles.
Additionally, in
1999 the Food and Drug administration allowed soy products
to claim that they may reduce the risk of heart disease, another
move that added to soy milk’s popularity.
However, the industry
does face some challenges. For one, soy milk is expensive,
as it typically sells at a 50 percent to 100 percent premium
compared to cow’s milk. Additionally, many consumers
are not familiar with its taste and do not rate soy milk as
high as other products in taste tests.
The
Washington Post March 13, 2003
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