An overseas market has "desperately" needed a plant burger

Beyond meat is booming in the United States, where animal-based meat consumption per capita is the highest in the world and where meat is the most important category of the food industry, with a turnover of 270 billion dollars. In the United States, the opportunity is just beginning: Nielsen data show that Beyond Meat has only 2% household penetration in the United States.

But the company said global opportunities are equally compelling: the meat market is estimated to be worth $ 1.4 trillion. It is there that the fastest growth of Beyond Meat could still occur.

Shares of Beyond Meat, already the best IPO of 2019, have soared after the release of its first earnings report as a public company. The opportunity in Asia is that underscored by CFO Mark Nelson.

In response to a question from an badyst at the quarterly earnings conference call about international opportunities and how much growth it will bring, Nelson said it was a significant percentage. " but that remains relatively small of our global income ". He pointed out that Europe and Asia are "very important" markets for his products and emphasized the fact that Europe already has a "highly developed market" for herbal proteins.

But that was the word he used to describe the Asian opportunity that was about as dramatic as CFO's speeches never drew him. "Asia desperately needs that, so I'm going to be very aggressive in these markets, and our team will be too." Asia is absolutely a strong part of our strategy. "

Beyond Meat plans its international expansion well before its public debut. It noted in 2018 that 10% of consumer inquiries from the previous year came from international markets, which contributed to its deployment in 40 countries. Beyond Meat is currently distributed internationally through local partners in Australia, Chile, the European Union, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, the Middle East, New Zealand, Korea, South, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, markets on which the company said to have received strong interest entering for our herbal products. "

In March, Beyond Meat presented its herbal protein burger in Singapore. This followed the introduction in 2017 of Beyond Burger in Hong Kong. Among the international markets, Australia is one of the most penetrated companies by Beyond Meat to date. The company said in its S-1 filing before the IPO: "For a number of years, we have been maintaining a presence and awareness in Asia through our local distributor, and we expect future expansion in the region. . "

According to Beyond Meat, research firms have already announced that the global market for plant-based meat is worth $ 6.5 billion by 2023, with the fastest growing market being the Asia-Pacific region. Data from Allied Market Research shows that while demand is strongest in Europe and North America, the Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing market for herbal products, and demand is growing. is expected to grow at a compound rate of 9.4% per year until 2025..

Beyond Meat said: "In markets other than the United States, the amount of meat consumed has more than doubled in the last two decades, from 120 million tonnes in 1997 to 280 million tonnes in 2017, according to # 39; OECD. "

In 2017 and 2018, international sales accounted for only about 1% and 7% of Beyond Meat's sales, but the company expects these sales "to increase significantly in the future. and contribute an increasing share to our net income in the coming periods ".

The international is growing faster than expected, said his management team at the call of profit. He has just signed an agreement with Zandbergen, based in the Netherlands, for his first overseas production site, and Beyond Meat's executive chairman, Seth Goldman, said at the call: "We have certainly witnessed a faster growth of Europe than we thought .. see, like Ethan [Brown, CEO] said, we want to be aggressive with the production. "

Many Asian markets were not historically places where beef was a staple in the diet – this is still not the case. But with the rise of the middle clbad, especially in China, beef consumption has increased. In the early 1980s, China's meat consumption reached about 13 kilograms per year and increased to 50 kilograms per person, more than half that of the United States, according to data reported by Dora Marinova, Curtin's director. University Sustainability Policy Institute of Australia, in a recent article of the Nikkei Asian Review.

"Consumption has already exceeded sustainable levels in China," she told the Nikkei. "From an environmental point of view, it must reach at least half of what it is."

Some Asian players are moving in space. In Japan, Otsuka Foods launched last year the first burgers based on herbal protein market.

Asia's growing population and its appetite for protein is not limited to beef, but also to historical commodities such as pork and seafood, which will have major consequences for the world.

A report from Singapore-based consultant Asia Research and Engagement predicts that an increase in the Asian population, an increase in incomes and a trend towards urbanization will result in a 78% increase in demand for meat and fruit from 2017 to 2050, according to a Reuters report.

The report estimates that an area equivalent to that of India will be needed to increase food production, while water use will double each year and greenhouse gas emissions will increase. He also noted that the use of antibiotics in the livestock sector would pose increased risks of infection in humans and animals.

Research conducted by Euromonitor in recent years shows that consumption of Asian animal protein can vary considerably depending on income. The per capita consumption of meat, fish and seafood ranges from 11 kg per capita per year in India to more than 144 kg in Hong Kong. Hong Kong, where Beyond Meat introduced its hamburger in 2017, has an annual disposable income per capita 23 times greater than that of India.

In China, factors other than income have made beef more attractive. The scandals related to the safety of the hog industry, public health campaigns designed to encourage the consumption of less oily protein and the recent outbreaks of bird flu have led to beef and veal becoming the category of meat in the United States. fastest growth in volume in recent years, Euromonitor revealed.