IDTechEx Research

The Meat Industry Is Unsustainable

The meat industry is huge

BOSTON, March 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Meat is big business. The global industry is worth over $2 trillion and JBS, the world's largest meat company, makes over $50 billion in annual revenue. In 2017, the US alone produced approximately 100 billion lbs of meat, with production is growing at a rate of 2-3% per year. In 2016, the US meat and poultry industry accounted for $1.02 trillion in total economic output, representing 5.6% of US GDP. The industry employs 5.4 million people who earn $257 billion in wages. The US government heavily subsidises the meat and dairy industry, spending $38 billion a year in subsidies (the EU grants similar levels of subsidies to its meat and dairy industries). As such, meat is very cheap in the USA, with 6.4% of consumer expenditure on meat, the lowest in the world. Whilst the rate of meat consumption has been slowing in years, the average American still consumed over 110 kg of meat per year in 2013, the second highest amount in the world behind Australia.

This pattern is repeated across the globe. Global meat consumption has increased rapidly over the past 50 years. In 1961, Europe and North America were the dominant producers. Despite both regions more than doubling their production since then, Asia is now the world's largest meat producer. As countries industrialise, their populations tend to adopt more Westernised diets, with people eating much more meat.

Poultry production is the fastest growing segment of the global livestock industry. By 2020, 124 million tonnes of poultry is expected to be produced globally, increasing by 25% in the subsequent decade. This trend is consistent globally. Poultry is cheaper to produce than other types of meat and chickens are the most efficient meat animal at converting grams of feed to grams of protein. Poultry also has fewer religious restrictions on its consumption than meats such as beef or pork. In August 2019, the US retail price for 1 kg of whole fresh chicken was $3.34; 1 kg of boneless chicken breast cost $6.53. To enable prices this low, the industry has invested heavily in standardising production – production facilities are identical, allowing cheap and rapid construction, and 99% of chickens are the exact same breed, so they do not vary in size, weight, etc.