The bakery and pastry market - Spain

1.1 Definition and scope of study

The bakery-pastry shop is a convenience store offering a wide range of products such as bread, pastries, cakes, sometimes even sandwiches and cold or hot drinks.

Bakery products, especially bread, occupy a central place in Spanish gastronomic traditions. Despite changes in consumption patterns, which have led to a decrease in bread consumption over the years, bread remains a key food in Spain. 

In spite of this traditional anchoring, bakeries and pastry shops also need to reinvent themselves and expand their offer to meet the new expectations of consumers: new diets and lifestyles are moving towards wholemeal bread or gluten-free products, for example. It is also a question of maintaining sales in the face of fierce competition from other distribution channels. 

There are many different types of players in the bakery and pastry market, divided between industrial and artisanal production. If the artisanal bakery-pastry sector in Spain seems very fragmented with many small neighborhood shops, industrial bakery is, on the contrary, highly concentrated in the hands of a few large groups. Thus, in 2018, 5 companies account for more than 43% of the industrial bakery sector in Spain.[ABC ; QCom]

1.2 The global market is growing

In ****, global sales of bakery and pastry products amounted to an estimated $***.* billion. The world market for bakery and pastry products is expected to grow at a CAGR of *.*% over the period between **** and **** period, reaching an estimated market size of $***.* billion [***].

Global market size for bakery products World, ****-****, in ...

1.3 A mature Spanish market

The Spanish bakery and pastery market is one that has already reached its maturity stage and has even seen a slight decrease in its activity in recent times.

The size of this market varies, depending on the scope that is considered. For instance, if we consider the figures provided by ASEMAC ...

1.4 The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic

As it can be seen from the section *.* of this study, bakery and pastry activity was significantly impacted during the Covid-** pandemic, with production dropping in ****.

On the other hand, as it can be seen from the graph below, consumption of bread during the first half of **** was actually higher than ...

2.1 The decreasing consumption

Since ****, the consumption of bread in Spain has been following a negative trend. Between **** and ****, the average spending of consumers on bread has dropped by nearly €** per persoon and the amount of bread consumed dropped by *kg per person [***].

Consumption and spending on bread Spain, ****-****, in euros and kilograms Source: ...

2.2 Who are the biggest (and smallest) consumers?

In Spain, the biggest consumers of bread are the retired population. In fact, compared to the national average of **kg of bread consumed per person, the consumption from the retired population was **.*% higher than the national average. In second place are the independent adults (***) and households of * person [***].

Biggest consumers of ...

2.3 Consumption patterns

During the year, there seems to be a pattern when it comes to the consumption of bread in Spain. Consumption seems to be at its highest level in the first quarter of theyear, while in the Summer months consumption seems to drop to its lowest point. Consumption seems to pick itself ...

3.1 Distribution channels for bread and pastries

In Spain, bread and pastries are by far mostly distributed by supermarkets. Focusing firstly on bread, we see that supermarkets accounted for more than **% of the sales and specialised outlets (***) accounted for nearly **% [***]. 

Distribution channels of bread Spain, ****, in % Source: ****

In regards to pastries, the dominance of supermarkets is even clearer, ...

3.2 The players in this market

To understand what are the players operating in the bakery and pastry market in Spain, we will use the aforementioned CNAE codes:

CNAE **** - Manufacture of bread and fresh bakery and pastry products CNAE **** - Retailers of bread and bakery products and pastry products in specialised shops

The market for the ...

3.3 Consumption by autonomous community

In terms of consumption of bread by communities, it is the North-West region of Spain that appears to have the highest per-capita consumption of fresh and frozen bread. On the flip side, the regions of Madrid and Canary Islands have the lowest consumption.

This is shown in the map below, where ...

4.1 The bread and pastries consumed

The bread that is consumed in Spain can be split into the following categories:

Fresh/frozen bread Wholemeal bread Normal fresh bread Industrial bread Industrial fresh bread Wholemeal industrial bread Normal industrial bread Industrial crustless bread Industrial enriched bread Dry industrial bread

Given the scope of this study, we will disregard ...

4.2 Comparing the prices

In ****, the average price of fresh/frozen bread in Spain was of €*.**/kg - *% lower than the **** price. Among the different distribution channels, discount stores were where this type of bread could be found for the cheapest price, while traditional bakeries tended to have the more expensive prices.

Average price of ...

5.1 Regulations

Each category of bread displayed must be accompanied by a label (***), attached to the base of the rack where the bread is displayed. This label must contain the following information:

Exact denomination of the category of bread; Weight in grams for breads sold by the piece; Selling price (***); The selling price ...

6.1 Segmentation

• Bimbo
• Monbake
• Cerealto
• Ingapan
• Macxipa
• Europastry España
• Repsol