When regulations allowing for the sale of lab grown meat products in Singapore were first approved, it was hailed as the start of something big. More than two years later, little headway has been made. High production costs have hindered mass market rollouts with firms unable to manufacture alternatives to beef, pork and chicken while making a profit.
Didier Toubia, Chief Executive Officer of Aleph Farms, told Reuters that technological, regulatory and scale barriers to entry for cultivated meat are very high compared to plant-based meat. Profitability remains elusive even with some companies having managed to reduce production costs by as much as 90 percent from when they first started.
This is a situation that Eat Just, one of only a few lab grown meat products available in Singapore, knows all too well. The business has been able to reduce how much money it takes to create cultivated meat but still remains far from profitability.
“It’s too high and it’s embarrassing…We lose money every time someone enjoys our cultivated chicken,” Eat Just CEO Josh Tetrick stated.
That is one reason the sector’s outlook remains murky, at least in the short term. Research Group Good Food Institute believes funding in the future for cultivated meat startups will be tough to come by due to a sharp deterioration in demand for plant-based meat, weak economic conditions and low visibility for near-term profitability. Even those in the industry are skeptical of just what the future will bring.
“I think we won’t see many companies … succeed and going into the market, which will also prevent the commodification of cultivated meat products,” Toubia added.
Also Interesting: The first plant-based meat produced in Asia is set for a Singapore launch
Interesting Analysis
Lab grown meat products in Singapore may be struggling but it is too early to throw in the towel in the sector just yet. The major issue here seems to be that funding and scaling started before the technology was in place. This is not uncommon. Think about how long electric vehicles were around before finally becoming commercially viable. Simply put, these things take time.
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