Nestle Builds Its First Plant-Based Food Factory In China
The facility is part of a $100 million investment plan that aims to put Nestle’s own plant-based meat on the market this year.
Nestlé China’s signing ceremony for the new factory in Tianjin. Credit: Nestlé
The world's largest food and beverage company Nestlé, has announced that it will open its first plant-based food factory in China, Reuters reports.
The factory is part of a $100 million investment plan by Nestlé to expand its production capacity in China. Nestlé aims to use this increased production to release its first range of plant-based meats by the end of this year.
“Chinese consumers have been steadily shifting to plant-based diets over the past few years, in part due to a devastating pig disease and bruising Sino-U.S. trade war driving up meat prices. And now with the coronavirus crisis, several consumers are also rethinking their diets”, Reuters explains.
China’s “free from meat” market has seen huge growth in the last few years, with Euromoniter predicting the industry to be worth $11.9 billion by 2023. The world’s biggest brands have been scrambling to meet this rising demand, with plant-based fried chicken at KFC and oat milk coffees at Starbucks among the newest product launches in a post-pandemic China.
Market analysts have reported the same demand in the US too, with the current pandemic said to be accelerating the rise in consumers choosing non-animal foods. A whopping $700 million has been invested in US plant-based food so far in 2020 already.
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