Consumers are increasingly turning away from plant-based meat substitutes amid global inflation and rising food prices. One of the major plant-based meat companies, Beyond Meat, reported mounting losses and falling profits at the end of 2022.
Beyond Meat’s fourth-quarter net income fell $20.7 million, or 20.6 percent, year-over-year, Business Insider writes.
The company said it sold about 3,300 fewer pounds of plant-based meat products during this period (a 17% reduction).
CEO and founder Ethan Brown attributed the drop in demand to “persistently high inflation, a slowdown in key markets and increased competitive activity.”
“It seems logical that consumers would be willing to move away from protein that costs twice as much as its animal equivalent in times of high inflation and low purchasing power,” explains Brown.
And although, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, meat prices did not increase as significantly during the year as those of other products (an average of 11.3% for the entire consumer basket), sales of vegetable derivatives can only be stimulated through dumping.
In restaurants, sales of Beyond products fell 30% in the last quarter of 2022, just over a quarter of the company’s sales in the United States (25.8%). Deliveries include service chains like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and others.
The United States accounted for 72.5% of Beyond’s sales in 2022 by revenue. At the same time, the net loss amounted to $366 million compared to $182 million in 2021.
Consulting giant Deloitte noted in a September report that sales of plant-based meat have been steadily falling.
“With inflation, fewer people are willing to pay a premium,” the report says.
Data from Information Resources Inc, cited by Bloomberg, shows that retail sales of chilled meat alternatives fell 10.5% year-on-year.
The UN notes that meat consumption is “shifting towards poultry”, which is expected to account for 41% of all protein sales by 2030.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
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