Analyst: Breakfast Cereal Sales Down in Part Because of Falling Birth Rates

The consumption of breakfast cereal has plunged; Kellogg, which makes Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, Froot Loops, and Special K, saw its sales of cereal drop 8 percent this quarter, according to Devin Leonard of Bloomberg.

Leonard reported that 19 of Kellogg’s 25 different cereals dropped in sales last year, and he suggests three reasons why: harried parents who have to work simply have no time to sit and eat a bowl of cereal, Americans are having fewer children, and new diets among Americans encourage less eating of sugar and less concern over fat, leading them to eschew cereal and embrace bacon and eggs.

There is evidence for Leonard’s assertions; the federal government recommends that consumers get no more than 10 percent of their daily caloric intake from added sugar, which hits cereals hard. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the U.S. fertility rate fell to a record low last year.

The concern over a drop in cereal consumption has been reported for some time. In August 2013, John Baumgartner of Wells Fargo Securities stated, “What we’ve seen for the cereal category over the past four years has been a 7 percent drop in volume.” In September 2014, the New York Times reported that ready-to-eat cereal sales dropped from $13.9 billion in 2000 to $10 billion in 2013.