Sustainable Protein + China

The Highest-Impact Food Opportunity in the World

China represents the largest consumer market on Earth, but Chinese consumers have different tastes and different expectations from their food. Alternative protein as it exists now is not yet meeting those demands, yet there are 400 million millennials in China that are increasingly looking for healthier, more sustainable alternatives in the foods they eat.

China is indispensable in solving one of the world’s most urgent problems: Meat.

SOCIAL IMPACT

Negative Impacts

Industrialized animal agriculture puts enormous pressure on our planet’s natural resources.

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23% of global fresh water use

14.5% of global GHG emissions

45% of global land occupied

73 BILLION land animals slaughtered for food every year, globally

Scale of Meat Consumption

China consumes 26% of the world’s meat – twice as much as the United States, including almost half of the world’s seafood and pork.

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Cover of a report titled 'Global Meat Consumption' with a geometric design in teal and red colors.
Pie chart illustrating global seafood consumption, with China accounting for 45%, the rest of the world for the remaining percentage, and a portion labeled as all other countries.

Increasing Consumption

Given the sheer size of China’s population, even small increases in individual meat intake will lead to outsized environmental consequences worldwide.

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Line graph showing meat consumption per person versus GDP per capita from 1990 to 2019. Countries highlighted include India, China, Hong Kong, and the United States, with data points showing increases in meat supply as GDP rises.

Underinvestment

Investment in alternative protein (AP) is booming globally, but still nascent in China.

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Bar chart showing investment in innovative foods from 2020 to 2022. Globally, the investment is $10.2 billion, while in China, it is only 3.5% of that, totaling $362 million.

Sources: unep.org, FAO.org, OECD, sustainablefisheries-uw.org 2022/23, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ourworldindata.org, Agfunder

A Market Opportunity in Disruptive Innovation

INVESTOR OPPORTUNITY

Opportunity

The 400 million millennials in China are willing to try new foods, and the macro environment is supportive of alternative proteins. That, and health conscious consumers are increasingly reverting back to traditional Chinese diets that are more plant-based.

  • Not enough arable land ​for resource intensive livestock.

  • Growing national concerns over environmental issues have many in China considering sustainable alternatives for the first time. ​

  • Increasing supply and cost concerns (e.g. African Swine Fever). ​ ​

Advantage

Chinese entrepreneurs have the advantage of learning from the successes of plant-based food companies in the US and Europe.

  • China has had a long history of manufacturing plant-based protein products.

  • A wide variety of culinary applications are present in the countless regional cuisines in China, providing a fertile ground for different innovations.

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