Czech Republic: plant based future still behind the corner
In the last years, meat consumption, and especially its excess, has often been placed in the context of health concerns by the Czech mass media, and in the last couple of years the media emphasis on the impact of animal production on long-term sustainability has been significantly growing.
To reduce the impact on climate change, Czech people see a solution, for example, in buying local products. But in general, they do not want to change their habits too much, especially when it comes to their eating habits, such as having to restrict meat or milk consumption.
Czech people are not primarily "pro-plant-based". Meat consumption in the Czech Republic is not declining and Czechs thus belong to significantly "meat-based" nations. In 2018 alone, its consumption increased by 2.1 kg to 82.4 kg per person.
While 33% of research respondents are willing to eat less meat or replace it with alternatives in some meals, in the 18-26 years age group this willingness grows to 42%. Certainly unwilling or very unlikely to consider a change in their behaviour are 49% of respondents, out of which 57% are men.
A survey conducted by the Skála and Šulc Agency for the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Information in July 2020 shows that as many as 20% of consumers expect a reduction in the consumption of meat and meat products in the future. At the same time, only a small part of consumers want to reduce this consumption for financial reasons (while meat is one of the most important items in food spending). The main reason for the planned change is the desire for a healthier lifestyle - 68% of those who want to reduce their meat consumption stated health as the reason. There is also a generational shift: a total of 27% of respondents in the survey of the above mentioned Skála and Šulc Agency want to reduce their meat consumption due to environmental responsibility, but in the youngest generation Z it is even 50%. At the same time, Czech customers are much more in favour of dairy alternatives than meat alternatives.
Read the whole report on plant based meat and dairy replacements available on the Czech market. The report consist the in depth list of retail chains and companies supporting meat less consumption on the Czech market. The report is based on a survey conducted in November 2020 by Ipsos- one of the biggest social platforms for consumer research.
Even if the demand is still limited, biggest retail chains in Czech Republic are responding to the demand not only by including plant innovations, but also by developing their own private label product lines.