The World Hummus Market Is Booming
Hummus is a condiment, a dip, which is made by blending cooked chickpeas with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and tahini. It originated in the Middle East, making it a major condiment in their cuisines.
Major Hummus Markets
Middle East, United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and South America serve as the major markets for this condiment.
Factors Encouraging Growth
Various factors are instrumental in driving the hummus global market forward.
Most market key players are introducing and launching new products, away from the original hummus. These include red pepper hummus, black olive hummus, white bean hummus, and roasted garlic hummus. This ensures there is a variety to choose from according to everyone’s’ taste, hence increasing sales.
The increase in globalization and urbanization has also favorably influenced the hummus market. The immigration of native Middle East populations into other countries introduced hummus across the globe. Urbanization has led to employment, which translates into people having an income, hence increasing the purchasing power and capacity. This increases the sales of hummus products in the market.
In Western countries, hummus is viewed as exotic food, which entices people into buying it. With the current upsurge of vegans and vegetarians, hummus which is made purely from plants is an excellent choice for such lifestyle changes.
Hummus prices in the market are consumer-friendly which increases sales. The products are also readily available to consumers through supermarkets and hypermarkets, independent retailers, convenience stores and e-commerce websites such as amazon.
Hummus has a long shelf life, which is an advantage to manufacturers as it prevents losses through expiration. There’s also the availability of raw materials for the industry hence encouraging growth.
Disadvantages
The market is faced with very few downsides, but the major is the fact that upon refrigeration, hummus products change their texture and hence are not conducive for bulk buying and storage.
Due to climate change, the prices of chickpeas have increased which will mean an increase in the products in the market.
Major Companies
Companies with the biggest market shares in the world include Strauss Group, Athenos, Cedars, Tribe hummus, Lantana Foods, Finnish Cheese Company, and Sevan.
In the United States, Sabra Dipping Company holds a share of 62% in the hummus market as of 2016.
Forecast
The global hummus market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 11% to about $1.52 billion by 2024. 45% of this growth is estimated to be from the European, Middle East and Africa regions.
In the United States, growth is estimated at a CAGR of 3.1% between 2019 and 2024. This will see an increase from $780.5million to $910.9 million. This increase in sales has led to an increase in demand for chickpeas, which, in turn, has led to a rise in chickpeas farming. It is reported that some farmers are changing from produce such as tobacco, and getting into chickpeas farming.