Meat Demand Is Under Threat Like ‘Never Before’ as Prices Surge
A jump in meat prices is forcing families from Brazil to the Philippines to buy less just as a broader move to plant-based eating is gaining traction.
Packages of beef for sale alongside Impossible Burger plant based meat in Los Angeles, California.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/BloombergIn the U.S., sales of meat at grocery stores are down by more than 12% from a year ago. In Europe, overall beef demand is predicted to fall 1% this year. And in Argentina, home to one of the world’s most carnivorous populations, per-capita beef consumption has dropped almost 4% from 2020.
While some of those numbers might seem small, even a tenuous decline is a rarity in the meat world, which until the pandemic hit last year saw years-long growth in consumption to ever-new record highs. Now demand is waning across the globe in what could signal the start of a new broad shift away from animal protein.