Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

FARMING

Danish meat giant releases range of plant-based products

Danish Crown, Europe’s biggest producer of pork and Denmark’s largest beef processor, has released a new range of plant-based, vegetarian products.

Published: 7 January 2022 13:35 CET
A file photo of Danish Crown's factory near Horsens. The company is to enter the plant-based meat alternative market in 2022.
A file photo of Danish Crown's factory near Horsens. The company is to enter the plant-based meat alternative market in 2022. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

The new products are to compete for market share with traditional meat – the company’s primary source of revenue.

But the company has now plans to cut down on its meat production, Danish broadcaster DR writes.

“Of course we are a butcher’s, but we are also a food producer, so when consumer demands change, we change with them. If there’s a market opportunity, we’ll be there too,” CEO Jais Valeur said to DR.

The company expects to sell its vegetarian products for “a large figure in the tens of millions (of Danish kroner)” in 2022, with that rising in the future.

There are no plans to reduce its meat production and sales currently, but that could change depending on market forces and the success of the plant line, Valeur told the broadcaster.

“If plant-based food grows as explosively as some people think it will, then it will replace something else and it will be the best product that wins,” he said.

“If just under 10 percent of Danes eat vegetarian, it could well become 10 percent of our business, which could well become worth billions [of kroner, ed.] in turnover if we are successful with it,” he also said.

An expert praised Danish Crown for taking a step towards plant-based food, while a charity said the company was missing a chance to cut emissions and take a genuine step by cutting meat production.

“It’s hugely important that the existing food industry also gets on board (with switiching to more plant-based food). That will push development forward much faster than if it was new start-ups alone driving it,” Jørgen E. Olesen, a climate researcher from Aarhus University and former member of the UN’s climate panel, said to DR.

Criticism – and some qualified praise – for the company came from environmental NGO Greenpeace.

“The problem is that they do not take the next logical step and say that they will cut back on their meat production. It is a genuine and good initiative but I think it’s incredibly problematic that they are not seizing this as an opportunity to really transform their business,” the charity’s campaign leader Kristine Clement told DR.

Valeur told the broadcaster that “it’s not the case that we want to have many pigs at all costs, but as we see the market at the moment, we believe production of pork can be maintained at around the level it is today while also having room for plant-based production.”

READ ALSO: Danish government to serve vegetarian food only twice a week

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FARMING

Danish expert committee proposes CO2 emissions tax for agriculture

An expert committee on Wednesday presented its proposals for a carbon tax for agriculture, which the Danish government has long sought to implement.

Published: 21 February 2024 15:00 CET
Danish expert committee proposes CO2 emissions tax for agriculture

The committee proposed a relatively low starting level of 750 kroner per ton emitted, along with two other options. 

The report was originally due to be submitted last year but has been delayed. 

Notably, the committee said that the introduction of a CO2 emissions tax on agriculture would lead to several thousand job losses. This may be seen as a blow by the government, which has stated it does not want its policies to causes job losses or damage competitiveness in Danish agriculture.

However, the committee said that job losses could be recouped in other areas.

“They will be distributed in the rest of the economy. Around 800,000 people in Denmark change their job each year. They can find work in anything from retail to service to manufacturing businesses,” economics professor Michael Svarer, the head of the committee, said at a briefing.

In the model with the highest proposed rax of 750 kroner per ton emitted, a permanent loss of jobs of 8,000 persons is predicted.

All three of the proposed options would result in an initial loss of jobs. The medium option would cost 4,000 jobs and the lightest option – a tax of 125 kroner per ton emitted – would cost around 2,000 jobs.

The committee argues that those figures are small in the context of the volume of turnover on the labour market.

“There’s a high demand for labour in Denmark and has been for a long time. We are not concerned that if we do these things, they won’t find new jobs,” Svarer said.

In isolation, employment in the agriculture sector would fall by 10 percent with the highest tax and 2 percent for the lowest tax.

Rural regions like West Jutland, where agriculture is a major employer, would be more severely affected.

Opponents of the planned CO2 tax have expressed concerns about a loss of jobs and competitiveness against foreign agriculture sectors which don’t have a similar tax. They also say that emissions would simply be moved abroad, and not prevented altogether, if Denmark taxes its agriculture on emissions.

The economic committee said that around 3 percent of jobs and emissions would relocate abroad due to the tax.

Denmark’s politicians have set a long-term target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent in 2030 compared to 1990.

The committee was asked to produce recommendations for an emissions tax on agriculture to contribute to this target without costing jobs.

But the expert group said it is not possible to deliver a model that meets both criteria.

The committee also calculated how the carbon tax will affect the price of products like meat and milk for consumers in Denmark.

SHOW COMMENTS