Regardless of the level of income and status, ethnicity or age group, many people eat bread and hold it dear.  It is the main reason of daily grueling and is a reflection of cultures of all regions and territories. Wheat and bread constituted people’s essential food. A slice of bread sometimes is the reflection of wealth while sometimes it represents the waste and extravagance. As the world population increases, the growing bread market is expected to exceed 215 billion USD in 2020.

The food that can present the most nutrients to human beings is wheat bread. There is a growing demand for different kinds of bread day by day. Especially in the metropolises, with the increasing tendency of healthy eating, different types of bread began to take place on the shelves. As the industrial furnaces, whose number has been increasing in recent years, are able to deliver their products even in distant places with their new distribution channels, local bread varieties began to disappear. Demand for varieties of bread made with oats, whole wheat and oily seeds are on the rise. In addition, packaged and sliced bread is preferred.

Bread is prepared by mixing wheat flour, water and salt. This mixture is shaped with or without yeast and then cooked. Wheat flour is mostly preferred but bread is prepared with other grain flours like corn and rye. Generally, bread can be consumed with other foods. As the number of alternative foods and type of different bakery increases, the consumption of local bread decreases.

Wheat and bread have been the basic food of mankind for centuries. Because environmental conditions cause changes in nutritional habits, the nutrients consumed by people living in different regions have different effects on the body. Thus, it will be wrong and have a negative impact on the physiological structure if Anatolian people, who live the main homeland of wheat for centuries and consumed wheat and its varieties as the main food, take out or reduce flour or bread from their table.

The structure of the market for bread and bakery products around the world shows a serious change from country to country. Bread production, a source of diverse work, underlines a chain of values that can be seen throughout society. From a cultural point of view, bread represents a strong economic sector in Europe. The European bakery sector consists of over 190 thousand SMEs and 2 thousand and 200 large companies. In the European Union, more than 2 million people are employed in this sector.

In 27 countries that make up the EU, the bread market is around 32 million tons. Bread consumption habits are quite different within the EU, but in most countries an average of 50 kilograms per person is consumed per year. The highest consumption levels are recorded in Bulgaria (approximately 95 kilograms) and the lowest consumption in the UK (approximately 32 kilograms). Market structure varies across Europe. For example, the industrial sector represents 80 percent of production in the UK; 40 percent in Germany, 35 percent in France and 19 percent in Spain.

According to The Gira European Bakery Company’s Panaroma report, 79 percent of the value of the market for baked goods consumed in Europe constitutes bread. Fresh products dominate 68 percent of the market. Growth in packaged products, along with salted pastry products, is the most important part of sector growth. Turkey ranks the first in the world in the per capita consumption of bread. Bread consumed throughout the world by product type still retains its overwhelming superiority in all world markets. Bread consumption plays an indispensable role in healthy and balanced nutrition in European countries as it does in Turkey. A healthy and balanced diet constitutes the foundation of good life. The main reason behind the decline in consumption of bread in Europe is the change of eating and living habits. Despite that, bread will continue to be an indispensable part of healthy living.

According to United Nations data, when the market activity of the bakery products sector in the world market between 2007 and 2014 are analyzed, it is seen that the positive growth in both export and import volume continues. In terms of value exports of bread and bakery products, it is seen that there is an increase of 4.3 percent in 2014 compared to the previous year. According to this; total export volume, which was 30 billion 122 million dollars in 2013, reached 31 billion 422 million dollars in 2014. From these numbers, we can deduce that the reason why we cannot see big changes in the figure of bread sale is that bread is still consumed by many households for a long time. However, it is obvious that the demand for new types of bread is increasing. There is a significant increase in whole grain bread containing oat and whole-wheat, particularly in breakfast bread varieties. The increase in consumption of such products can be thought to affect the sales graph of white bread.

EXPECTATION IN 2020 IS 215 BILLION DOLLARS The global bread and sandwich bread market, which reached $187.1 billion in 2015, is expected to reach $215.8 billion by 2020, according to Technavio / Bakery and Snacks. Especially, it is estimated that 53.6 percent of the $215.8 billion market to be formed in 2020 will come from European countries, and America will get a share of 28.6 percent from the market. The countries of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are expected to receive a minimum share of 6.9 percent from the market, while Asia Pacific countries are expected to receive a share of 10.9 percent from the market. The common result of global surveys including USA, Europe, Middle East-Africa and Asia-Pacific is that bakery products sector has been growing and changing with all the dynamics. It is an unquestionable reality that Europe is in a dominant position in the bakery products market.

Consumer trends and changing consumption habits, which paved the way for changes in the sector, are the driving forces. Metropolitan life, quick and on-site consumption, fresh consumption demand, healthy eating tendency, changes in distribution channels and trends in traditional products caused changes in the sectorial change.

Especially metropolitan life, busy traffic, and city population continue to direct consumption habits all over the world. Turkey is also affected by this change rapidly. That’s why quick and on-site consumption, fast food chains, and snack bakery products are popular nowadays. The number of chains producing hamburger, pizza and similar products increased in Turkey quickly due to the culture transfer and Western eating habits. Metropolitan life and the increasing percentage of working women have led eating out. Restaurant chains are expanding on-site serving as well as take-away. This change mostly affected bakery goods sector since it is suitable for fast food. Industrial furnaces began to take place of traditional ones while standard bread are replaced by high added value bread.

HEALTHY NUTRITION AND CHANGE The trend of healthy eating is one of the leading factors in the change in the sector. Conscious consumers, legal practices for healthy eating, and written / visual media news are openly changing habits. There has been growing demand for bread with high grain content, whole wheat bread, gluten-free, salt-free, trans fat-free, sodium-reduced flour products, and high antioxidant content, enriched Omega3 bread day by day.

Across the globe, the consumption of ‘whole wheat bread,’ one of the bread varieties consumed due to healthy lifestyle has exceeded the consumption of white bread. Even though consumption of white bread is still in the first place in Turkey, the consumption of whole wheat bread is increasing rapidly in the recent years.

Global bakery products sector is defined on the basis of product, production method, sales and distribution channel. On the basis of the product, the product range is seen as bread, croissants, pastry, salted pastry, biscuits, cereal mixtures, crackers and wafers. In terms of product technology, these are fresh, packaged baked, packaged frozen and semi-frozen. When viewed from the Production Method Basis, the traditional production is conducted at furnaces, furnaces inside markets and supermarkets while the industrial production is a long-shelf-packaged product manufacturer and chain fast-food producer. When the sector is viewed from sale and distribution channels; retail / distribution channel, bakeries, modern retail chains, chain furnaces, Horeca and catering are eye-catching.

When the last five years of the sector is reviewed from the points of sale and distribution, it can be seen that while the percentage of traditional production is decreasing, the percentage of supermarkets and similar chain sale points are increasing. Traditional bread types are defined as freshly baked at ovens and sold while industrial bread is defined as packaged with long shelf life, frozen and packaged semi-cooked.

According to the distribution channels; on European average, 34 percentages are traditional and 66 percentage are industrial. The trend is exactly the opposite in Turkey. Although there is growing tendency towards industrial production, traditional production is still over 60 percentages. In fact, Turkey is the driving force behind the percentage of traditional production average in Europe.