Meat Consumption

Countries undergoing economic expansion and rising urban populations are experiencing a shift away from traditional plant-based staples towards a higher consumption of meat and dairy products.

These changing eating behaviours come about from consumer preference for beef as well as the increasing sophistication of food outlets. Refrigeration at food distributors allows the easy sale of dairy and beef products.

In China for example, the average per capita consumption of meat has risen from 20kg in 1985 to 50kg in 2007, with China alone, accounting for 57% of the total rise in demand among developing countries.

The following chart illustrates how meat consumption per capita rises with GDP per capita. 
 

 
One negative consequence of this behavioural change is that it leads to a substantially greater demand for grains, because producing one tonne of beef requires 7 tonnes of feed input and 7,000 tonnes of water.

A recent report produced by Chatham House shows that the ‘consumption footprint’ of a person in the UK is equivalent to 5.4Ha of agricultural land whilst, it represents only 0.4Ha for a Chinese person.

The implication of this is that continued emerging market growth will lead to increased requirement for agricultural production even if the global population level were to remain stable.

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