1. There is rising awareness on ethical/health concerns around Meat production/consumption – impending shift towards meatless meat?

SEA is home to a myriad of cultures and religions of the world which have an influence on an individual’s eating habits. There is a recent trend playing out where awareness on some of the health and ethical considerations of meat consumption are increasing, leading to an increase in adoption of alternative meat products.
This shift is being driven by Millennials in the region and the major reason is the growing awareness and consciousness about what they consume, how they consume it, the benefits and the detrimental effects it could have on their health and lifestyle.

​Key concerns around Meat Consumption

Key messages from our consumer interactions

2. Alternative Meat – A step towards sustainability?

Alternative meat is a step towards a sustainable and responsible future. The market has a variety of plant-based and animal-based artificial meats along with generic alternative options like tofu, beans, legumes, etc.

There are global and local players sprouting up in this space and they are seeing increased investor confidence.

​Production Value Chain mapped across traditional and alternative Meat

​Investment and partnership Activities in the Artificial Meat Market

Popular Players in SEA

3. Are alternate meat substitutes affordable?

At present, the alternative meat substitutes command a higher price in comparison to the traditional meat offerings, making it a niche product. However, with an increase in demand and scale of production in the medium term, the prices are expected to be more comparable to traditional meat-based products.

Real Meat vs Plant Based Meat, SKU price comparison

Note:

1. The Alternative Meat SKU’s are for plant-based variants only
2. Price comparison based on available variants of Alternative meat for a leading sizable player in SEA; for smaller players prices would be directionally higher, implying higher multiples

4. SEA presents a massive opportunity for alternative meat substitute manufacturers…

Southeast Asia presents a USD 10-15 Bn dollar opportunity for the alternative meat producers assuming a conservative target user cohort of 11% of the population as of 2019. This TAM could expand further in the upcoming years once the production is scaled up and products become affordable and accessible to a larger consumer cohort.

SEA meat eating market Consumer funnel, CY19

5. …and the market in while nascent, seems to be setting itself up for accelerated growth in the short to medium term

Meat substitute market in SEA is still in infancy stages. However, with increasing awareness levels, the adoption of these products has increased, helping drive up the TAM.

While it is debatable if COVID has helped drive $ growth in the segment, what is very clear is that consumers have become much more aware and want to be informed about the source and quality of meat-based products they consume, which is a positive for the industry.

We feel that on the back of this, the market is beginning to move into a high growth phase which will help it capture critical mass from a consumer adoption standpoint over the short term, thereby propelling further accelerated growth.

Evolution of Alternative Meat market, Conceptual representation