Vegan Cheese Market Size, Share, Growth Analysis, By Product Type (Mozzarella, Cheddar), By Source (Soy, Almond), By Distribution Channel (Supermarkets and Hypermarkets), By Application (Household, Food Processing), By Region - Industry Forecast 2024-2031

Global Vegan Cheese Market size was valued at USD 2.57 billion in 2022 and is poised to grow from USD 2.86 billion in 2023 to USD 10.61 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 10.61% in the forecast period (2024-2031). 

Vegan cheese has historically been a contentious issue for both consumers and the business community. Vegan cheese options and availability, as well as satisfaction with taste and texture, have notoriously been limited until very recently.

After an explosive year for the vegan cheese market in 2019, when even major players in the plant-based meat alternatives industry, like Beyond Meat and The Very Good Food Company, began collaborating with recipe writers to focus on the cheese market, the distinction between dairy cheese and plant-based cheese is expected to become increasingly hazy until vegan cheese alternatives are competitive with their counterparts derived from animals.

Vegan cheese, particularly vegan cream cheese, has been dubbed the next frontier in plant-based innovation, with the market for dairy substitutes expected to grow as a result of developments in ingredient technology. The vegan cheese market sees products derived from a wide range of ingredients, such as cashew, coconut cream, tapioca starch, olive oil, onion powder, fermented tofu, lemon juice, or nutritional yeast. This is in contrast to the conventional dairy segment, where the origin of the products is typically the cow.

The vegan cheese market is driven by the desire for transformation and change, and rising consumer awareness of animal cruelty and the damaging effects of the dairy industry on the environment has influenced them to choose plant-based products. Over the coming ten years, the vegan cheese market is expected to rise as customers around the world, particularly Generation Z and millennials, are becoming more accepting of veganism.

The plant-based cheese industry is increasingly relying on fermentation technologies to create cheese without using any animals, specifically cows. The first-ever extensive study of consumer acceptance for animal-free cheese has shown that such products will quickly compete with traditional dairy in the $240 billion cheese market, even if fermentation-produced animal-free cheeses have not yet reached the mass market.

There are numerous vegan kinds of cheese manufactured with ingredients like coconut, soy, and nuts, resulting in vegan food products like cashew cheese and other dairy-free cheese options that contain healthful fats, just as the plant-based milk category includes products like coconut milk, soy milk, and oat milk. A dairy-free version of the most popular conventional cheese options, such as mozzarella shreds, smoked gouda, or mild cheddar, is most likely to increase vegan cheese consumption because it is suitable for lactose-sensitive consumers.

US Vegan Cheese Market is poised to grow at a sustainable CAGR for the next forecast year.