Plant-based Food: May the New Market Race Begin! 素食制品在中国

It’s fair to say that these days "vegan" is no longer a strange word for Chinese people. Although when talking about it their first thought may still be more focused on how to cook vegetables in an innovative way, the many emerging plant-based brands are revolutionizing the market and the perception of such kinds of products in the eyes of Chinese consumers.

“素食”对中国人来说早已不是个陌生的词，提到它，很多人的第一反应是以创新性的方式烹饪蔬菜，但许多新兴的植物性品牌正在彻底改变市场和中国消费者对此类产品的看法。

In this article we have collected some of the latest trends in terms of plant-based products in China. Keep reading for some interesting facts!

在这篇文章中，我们收集整理了中国植物性产品的一些最新趋势。如果你感兴趣，欢迎继续读下去！

Vegetarianism in China

素食在中国的发展

The increase of the popularity of vegetarianism in China cannot be said to have been smooth, especially considering that Chinese food highly relies on meat and there is corroborating data to support this claim: according to statistics, China's total meat consumption in 2019 was 94.203 million tons, which is more than the sum of EU Member States and the United States put together, showing how strong the meat market is in China.

要知道，这一观念在中国的推广并不能说是非常顺利的，考虑到中国是一个肉食主义的“超级”大国——关于这一点我们有一些数据可以支撑，据统计，中国在2019年肉类总消费多达9420.3万吨，这一数量超过了欧盟成员国和美国的总和——这显示出肉食在中国所具有强大的市场。

What about vegetarianism? In China, the main force of promotion can be found among the so-called young intellectuals, white collar workers and college students. Apart from the influence of some religions (such as Buddhism's ban on meat and fish, Islam's ban on pork, dog and donkey meat), the reason why most people advocate for vegetarianism is related to environmental protection and health. From the perspective of environmental protection, the carbon emission from meat is estimated to be around 10 times higher than for those foods central to a vegetarian diet, along with the fact that the water and land resources used in the production of meat products also heavily affects the environment. What’s more, Chinese people are becoming more and more enthusiastic about taking care of their body’s health, with more and more people seeing vegetarianism as a proper diet as well as a healthy eating habit.

而素食呢？在中国，这一文化推广的主力军主要是年轻知识分子、白领和大学生。除去一些宗教（如佛教禁食荤腥，伊斯兰教禁食猪、狗、驴肉）的影响外，大多数人推崇素食，不外乎与环保和健康有关，从环保角度，肉食生长所排出的碳量通常要超过素食生长排碳量的10倍，肉类产品生产过程中所需要用到的水和土地资源也会影响环境。而中国人对于身材控制的狂热程度与日俱增，同时越来越多的人相信合理的饮食搭配能让素食成为一种健康的饮食习惯。

Plant-based Products in China

素食产品进入中国

As mentioned above, enjoying meat is an intrinsic aspect of the Chinese food culture so, even for vegetarians, the emergence of "fake" meat and milk products made or synthesized with plants is of great significance. Many brands seized this opportunity and jointly launched a series of products with plant-based products suppliers (mostly from abroad), with remarkable results.

如前文所说，肉食在中国是一固有的饮食文化，因此哪怕是对素食主义者来说，植物制作或合成的“假”肉、奶产品的出现也具有非常的意义。许多品牌和商家抓住这一商机，与植物制品供应商（多来自国外）联合推出了一系列产品，收效显著。

During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2019, Zhen Meat cooperated with Shanghai brand Laodafang to launch the first " fresh plant-based meat mooncake". In addition, they also launched “plant-based crispy meat" and "plant-based crawfish". Both Nayuki and HEYTEA have launched their own "future hamburger" products in cooperation with the artificial meat manufacturer Starfield, which sold out as soon as they went on sale. In September 2020, Starbucks announced that it would increase the menu of plant-based food and beverages in Asia, with suppliers including Green Monday and Beyond Meat. In fact, as early as April, Starbucks have listed a number of plant-based meat products in China, including lasagna and rolls.

2019年中秋节期间，珍肉与上海老字号品牌老大房合作，推出第一块“植物鲜肉月饼”。除月饼之外，珍肉也曾上线 “植物小酥肉”和 “植物小龙虾”。奈雪的茶与喜茶都与人造肉制造商Starfield合作，分别推出了各自的“未来汉堡”产品，一经开售即销售一空。2020年9月，星巴克宣布将在亚洲地区增加植物性食品和饮料的菜单，其中供应商包括Green Monday和Beyond Meat。实际上，早在2020年4月，星巴克就已在中国已经上市了多款植物肉产品，包括植物肉千层面、植物肉甜辣手卷等。

In addition to meat, Nongfu Spring also tried to launch a veggie-based yoghurt in 2019, which is fermented with soybean milk, while focusing on the brand’s products with zero cholesterol, zero lactose and low saturated fat, aiming to increase its market share in the health food category.

除了人造肉，农夫山泉也于2019年尝试推出了一款植物酸奶，以豆乳发酵，主打零胆固醇、零乳糖以及低饱和脂肪的招牌，直击健康食品的市场。

Future Market of Plant-based Products

素食产品的未来市场

By looking at the market and social media reactions following the launch of these plant-based products, it’s easy to assess that the growing interest for healthy products associated to the strong branding techniques of such emerging brands is a successful combination. However, these results shall not be taken as a certainty for long-term success because, as a matter of fact, as we have seen many times before, this popularity might simply come as a result of the newness of the plant-based trend. To achieve more stable success over time, more consumer research is needed and brands will have to be able to keep the interest towards their products high, especially when the hype slows down.

通过观察这些植物性产品上市后的市场和社交媒体的反应，我们很容易判断出，素食制品与品牌的结合目前在中国非常受欢迎，但这并不意味着长期的积极形势。事实上，大多数对素食制品的尝试源于一种尝鲜的心态，随着时间的推移，如何打开并稳定素食产品的市场，还需要更多对消费者的研究。

According to research realized by iiMedia Research, 29.7% of respondents are willing to try artificial meat products, while 51.3% are unwilling or very unwilling to try. Among the consumers who are reluctant to try artificial meat, nearly half of them are motivated by psychological factors - the emergence of plant-based products is deemed as an attack on the eating habits of traditional meat eaters. Besides, the worry about undeveloped technology and poor taste are the other two important factors that reduce consumers' willingness. Therefore, at this stage, the biggest challenge for plant-based producers is to overcome such inherent ideas about their products.

根据艾媒咨询发布的一项研究报告显示，非常愿意、比较愿意尝试人造肉产品的受访者占29.7%，但非常不愿意、不愿意尝试的比例高达51.3%。在不愿意尝试人造肉的消费者中，近一半是出于心理因素的影响，素食制品的出现，对于传统的肉食用户是一种颠覆；而担心技术不成熟、口感不佳，则是另外两个降低消费者尝试意愿的重要因素。因此现阶段，对于素食制品制造商而言，最大的挑战就是要克服部分消费者对这类产品的固有观念。

Although plant-based products are facing both opportunities and challenges in the Chinese market, with the increasing levels of people’s education in this area, the diversification of the Chinese market is also growing. We have every reason to believe that the prospects of plant-based products are full of infinite possibilities. For more research on the market and consumers, feel free to contact us at [e-mail].

尽管素食制品在中国市场中同时面临着机遇与挑战，随着群众普遍受教育程度也越来越高，中国市场的多元化程度也在日益增长，我们有充分的理由相信，其前景充满无限可能。想要获取更多对市场和消费者的研究，欢迎通过 [e-mail] 与我们联系。

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