International Retailers Just vegging
Sainsbury’s has seen a 65% year-on-year increase in plant-based, meat-replacement products, and has recently launched a pop-up meat-free butcher, offering vegetarian and vegan punters a range of cuts, joints and sausages, made from plant-based alternatives like mushroom, jackfruit and pea protein. Currently, one in eight British consumers is a vegetarian; Sainsbury’s expect this to rise to one in four by 2025. Across the pond, Carrefour is taking steps to exit its Chinese business, where sales fell -5.9% to €4.1bn in 2018, with an agreement to sell 80% of its Chinese operations to Chinese group Suning.com for €620m, scuppering the hopes of Carrefour-partner and Chinese Amazon Tencent to take the stake. In Germany, meanwhile, retailer Metro has seen off an unsolicited offer by existing shareholder EP Global Commerce, on the grounds that it wasn’t enough. Metro operates in 26 countries with 771 stores, but has scaled back in recent years to focus on its cash n carry business.
Comment: Good news from Sainsbury’s – always great when a whole new category emerges, especially when it’s one that challenges the hegemony of destructive agricultural practices.