French bread has traditionally been the most preferred bread in Brazil, but ongoing changes in consumption habits have led to new products and bread types being launched in the market.

Initially, new offers were limited to whole-grain breads, and lesser known varieties such as rye bread. As a result of the dissemination of nutritional information and the pursuit of healthfulness through a good diet, current bread varieties include many types of recipes that have lower sodium/sugar, natural and/or organic ingredients, more fiber, are gluten-free, and sourced from special flours, cereals, and different grains such as barley, chia, sesame seeds, wheat germ, and granolas, among others.

Mintel estimates the retail revenues of the bread and baked goods market will reach R$5.5 billion in 2015. Looking ahead, retail sales value in the market is forecast to grow by 58% between 2015 and 2020, to reach R$8.7 billion.

As French rolls are still the national preference, packaged bread companies need to work hard to prove to customers that offerings are worth the money and to start switching.

Market size includes sales of packaged bread in all retail channels and the products included are divided into:

• Plain nonwhite bread: this includes sales of brown, wholemeal, and other nonwhite/white combinations at in-store bakeries which are barcoded.

• Plain white bread: this includes sales of white breads at in-store bakeries which are barcoded.

• Specialty bread: bagels, baguettes, pittas, wraps, chapattis, naan breads, Panini, garlic bread (brown, seeded, and white).

The following are excluded from the market size:

• Nonpackaged breads (such as French rolls), sweet breads, savory pastries, pizza bases, panettone, Swiss rolls, waffles, pancakes, and other types of bread (such as croissant or fruit bread).

• Sales in nonretail channels (eg, coffee houses) or sales of sandwiches or ingredients for bakeries.

• The consumption of bread in restaurants and catering outlets is excluded, whether on its own or in prepacked sandwiches.

• Home baking products, such as flour, yeast, and mixes, together with cakes and other sweet or savory pastry products.

Sales of savory snacks, pies and other baked goods are insignificant as sales are too low and therefore are not included.

Products excluded from the market size are selectively commented on in other sections of the report.

Pão Francês (French rolls): normally freshly baked on a daily basis, typically made with wheat or whole-grain wheat, and sold in bakeries by weight.

Bisnaguinha: soft and small bread, similar to a smaller variety of hot dog rolls.

For clarification, in this report a ton is a unit of mass equaling 1,000 kilograms.