Hong Kong meatless meat firm Green Common opens Omnipork Tmall store with eye on China’s pork shortage

Green Common, the Hong Kong-based provider and retailer of meatless meat products, is hoping to capitalise on depleting inventories and rising prices of pork in mainland China with the launch of a Tmall store.

The company, which distributes Beyond Meat products in Asia-Pacific, is betting on Omnipork, which was developed by founder David Yeung with Chinese tastes in mind. The Green Common Tmall flagship store will officially launch on November 29, during Tmall’s Black Friday event, Yueng said in Beijing on Thursday.

“Our collaboration with Tmall Global is a milestone development in the China market, enabling local consumers to get a taste of the future. With our store’s inauguration on November 29, we are going to start a new page in leading a healthy and sustainable food consumption trend in China,” Yeung said. He added that offline sales in China would follow soon.

Tmall.com, formerly Taobao Mall, is a Chinese-language online retail website operated in China by South China Morning Post parent Alibaba Group Holding. It will feature 40 different plant-based food items, some of which are already available to buy, while others – including Omnipork – will launch on November 29.

Yeung said he expected Omnipork sales to benefit from the pork shortages in China. Retail prices rose 78 per cent month on month in September, according to a report by Dutch multinational bank Rabobank this month. The report added that pork inventories were depleted during the fall holidays, and that African Swine Flu had limited the ability of pork suppliers to meet demand. The bank also said pork consumption would be hit as high prices would limit interest.

Omnipork is currently available for sale, online and in supermarkets, in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.