New retail data from the US, UK and Germany has highlighted a sustained decline in both conventional meat sales volumes and per capita meat consumption.

The decline is attributed to a combination of long-term consumer shifts toward plant-based foods as well as macroeconomic pressures that continue to drive up the price of animal protein.

New figures released by the UK government show that per capita meat consumption in the country has dropped by 14% between 2012 and 2022, reaching its lowest level in over a decade.

Similary, German government statistics show per capita meat consumption has now reached its lowest level since the country began tracking such statistics in 1989, with the German Agriculture Ministry attributing this drop to a consumer shift towards plant-based proteins.

In the US, data from retail sales aggregator IRI Worldwide showed that 2023 has marked the second consecutive year of diminishing meat purchase volumes. As of October, overall meat sales by volume have declined 4% year-over-year and by 6% over the past two years.

These decreases cut across nearly all meat categories and include a 10% year-over-year drop in pork sales volumes, a 10% year-over-year drop in seafood sales volumes and a 13% year-over- drop in turkey sales volumes.

While plant-based meat sales have also seen similar declines due to the macroeconomic environment, data shared in the Good Food Institute’s plant-based meat outlook for 2023 (sourced from Euromonitor, Nielsen and SPINS) shows that numerous categories in the plant-based food space have seen double-digit year-over-year sales growth in the US and Europe in 2022, with further growth expected to be seen in 2023 year-end figures.

Nick Cooney, managing partner at venture capital firm Lever VC, said that the continued decline in meat consumption in three of the world’s six largest economies is a “long-term industry disruption” creating significant opportunities for plant-based.

Cooney added: “These long-term trends, reflected in per capita meat consumption in countries like Germany and the UK reaching decades-long lows and dropping for the second year in a row in the US, are starting to spread to an increasing number of countries”.

“The plant-based food brands in Lever VC’s global portfolio have together grown sales by over 50% year-over-year in 2023, reflecting the ongoing opportunity for companies in these and other alternative and upgraded protein categories that provide great-tasting products at prices that work for consumers.”

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