The fledgling nut milk category has racked up £6.5m in sales since Alpro carved open the UK market in February last year.

Alpro launched an almond milk and a hazelnut drink into the mults last February - part of a strategy to reposition Alpro as a specialist in ‘plant-based eating’ instead of a supplier of just soya products.

The Alpro nut milks account for 75% of the £6.5m category sales total [Nielsen Scantrak 8 December 2012].

Alpro claimed there had been only “marginal” cannibalisation of its soya drinks following the launch into nuts. “When you look at the category overall, soya has continued to grow,” said Alpro UK commercial director John Allaway.

Alpro’s supply of nut milks into UK retail was swiftly followed by others. Tesco launched own label almond and hazelnut drinks in February last year and US almond brand Blue Diamond launched Almond Breeze almond milk in the summer.

Alpro launched a rice milk in Autumn last year but Allaway said there were “no immediate plans” to launch into coconut milk.

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