Jun 12, 2023 03:17 PM
(This post was last modified: Jun 12, 2023 03:18 PM by C C.)
https://www.newsweek.com/big-bet-meat-al...ls-1805425
EXCERPTS: Shares of meat alternatives soared when Beyond Meat, the California-based producer that's come to epitomize the sector, went public four years ago. But a fall in stock prices suggests that venture capital's appetite for such investments may have gotten ahead of market realities.
Concerns about the meat industry's environmental impact and carbon footprint have helped popularized plant-based substitutes in recent years. Market shares show that investors rushed toward the new food trend, but new data suggests that their eyes may have been bigger than consumers' stomachs.
While Beyond Meat was worth more than $14 billion in 2019, it was valued at $827.24 million as of Friday. Its shares have fallen about 95 percent over the past four years.
Daniel Sumner, an agricultural economics professor at the University of California, Davis, told Newsweek that this often happens with innovative alternatives to conventional products.
[...] "Plant-based meats were likely oversold by proponents and over-berated by opponents, giving us the roller-coaster ride to date," Katz said. "Had the nuance of this innovation been respected from the start, initial market values might have been lower but the overall state of the market would be much better now."
While stock performance shows that existing meat alternatives like Beyond Meat may not be enough to switch consumers off of meat, experts are hopeful that substitutes grown from animal stem cells, without using animals themselves, will be more successful... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Shares of meat alternatives soared when Beyond Meat, the California-based producer that's come to epitomize the sector, went public four years ago. But a fall in stock prices suggests that venture capital's appetite for such investments may have gotten ahead of market realities.
Concerns about the meat industry's environmental impact and carbon footprint have helped popularized plant-based substitutes in recent years. Market shares show that investors rushed toward the new food trend, but new data suggests that their eyes may have been bigger than consumers' stomachs.
While Beyond Meat was worth more than $14 billion in 2019, it was valued at $827.24 million as of Friday. Its shares have fallen about 95 percent over the past four years.
Daniel Sumner, an agricultural economics professor at the University of California, Davis, told Newsweek that this often happens with innovative alternatives to conventional products.
[...] "Plant-based meats were likely oversold by proponents and over-berated by opponents, giving us the roller-coaster ride to date," Katz said. "Had the nuance of this innovation been respected from the start, initial market values might have been lower but the overall state of the market would be much better now."
While stock performance shows that existing meat alternatives like Beyond Meat may not be enough to switch consumers off of meat, experts are hopeful that substitutes grown from animal stem cells, without using animals themselves, will be more successful... (MORE - missing details)
