The meatless meat industry of Asia has been observing exponential growth despite an economic slowdown caused due to Covid-19 that has reportedly impacted restaurant businesses. Experts suggest that that public concern over food and health safety in this pandemic could significantly drive long-term growth prospects for alternative protein makers like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. The current pandemic, in line with the African swine fever, is expected to boost the adoption of meatless meat. Moreover, there is a growing interest among Asian businesses alongside that of consumers and investors. Recently, speculating growing trend, Impossible Foods increased its expansion efforts in Asia with the relocation of its senior vice-president, Nick Halla, to Hong Kong. According to Halla, Asia represented 44% of the meat consumption of about 700 billion pounds globally, numbers that are projected to grow by 70% until 2050. In a bid to meet the demand in Asia, Impossible Foods has planned to roll out alternative pork and sausage products, claims Halla. Meanwhile, as Impossible Food’s biggest competitor, Beyond Meat has aggressively expanded in mainland China. Reports cite that Starbucks China had announced that it will serve plant-based alternatives from Beyond Meat, represented in Asia by Hong Kong entrepreneur David Yeung’s Green Common. Apparently, Yeung owns Omnipork, a pork alternative product that is targeted at the Chinese market. Beyond Meat’s share price had surged 16% the same day. Listed on the Nasdaq, the company had prior saw its share price suffer during the market slowdown in March, however, it has since been observing steady growth, rising from $54 in March to $88.46 in April. In fact, Beyond Meat has also received investment from Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Gates. While, its Chief Executive, Ethan Brown recently said that their firm is committed to producing its products in Asia by late 2020, regardless of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Source Credit: https://www.scmp.com/business/money/markets-investing/article/3081421/impossible-foods-beyond-meat-eye-bigger-cut-covid
