Beyond Meat Announces Historic Agreement To Bring Production Of Plant-Based Meat To China

Beyond Meat (Jiaxing) Food Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beyond Meat, has signed an agreement with Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone (JXEDZ) to design and develop manufacturing facilities in the JXEDZ, including a state-of-the-art production facility to manufacture plant-based meat products including beef, pork, and chicken under the Beyond Meat brand in China. The production facilities will be located in the JXEDZ, a historic and commercially important development zone with ready access to Shanghai.

Beyond Meat will be the first multinational company focused solely on plant-based meat production to bring its own major production facility into China.

“Beyond Meat is building the perfect road to long term success in China. It has the confidence to set up dedicated, cutting edge production capacity via a wholly-owned subsidiary, located on the mainland close to Shanghai,” Micky Pant, Senior Advisor to Beyond Meat said in a statement. “The JXEDZ is a visionary and proactive partner with an excellent record in supporting the food industry.”

“China is one of the world’s largest markets for animal-based meat products, and potentially for plant-based meat,” stated Ethan Brown, CEO and Founder of Beyond Meat. “We are delighted and confident that after several months of productive and collaborative discussions, we will partner with the JXEDZ to develop two production facilities, including one of the world’s largest and technologically advanced plant-based meat factories. We are very impressed by the capabilities and vision of the JXEDZ and they are the ideal partner for us in this vitally important country and market.”

“We are very happy to welcome Beyond Meat to our Economic Development Zone and to China. It is our vision to support high-quality investors in starting their ventures in China, and we are aligned with the vision of Beyond Meat to bring new, high technology food products that are nutritious and environmentally friendly to the Chinese market,” noted Mr. SHENG, Director General of the Administrative Committee of the Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone. “We look forward to a long relationship and mutually beneficial partnership with this dynamic new age company.”

Work is ongoing on the project, and trial production is expected to commence within months with full scale production in early 2021. China is expected to be one of the most important markets in the world for Beyond Meat, as a production and research and development center, and as a major market in the years to come.

As previously reported by WAN, Beyond Meat recently announced the company’s expansion in Europe with the official opening of the Zandbergen co-manufacturing facility in Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands.

The facility, owned and operated by Zandbergen World’s Finest Meat, will produce the plant-based Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage. The partnership is intended to allow for more efficient distribution of Beyond Meat’s products across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)

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