Global Meat Market

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the global meat sector and examines significant food processing sub-sectors that are a major contributor to the global economy. Structural changes in global meat production, consumption and trade are analysed using recent Food and Agriculture Organisation statistical databases, in terms of geographic concentration or relocation of production or markets and temporal changes across major geographical regions. The findings indicate significant recent shifts in production, consumption and trade of different kinds of meat. While developing markets still focus on red meat, the developed markets are moving faster towards white meat due to increasing health and environmental concerns among consumers in recent years. The implications of such trends for South Asia are examined, too, and call for further research.