Beyond Meat will become the first multinational plant-based meat producer to bring a major production facility into China.

The Californian company’s wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary has inked an agreement with Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone (JXEDZ) to design and develop manufacturing facilities in the JXEDZ.

This included a state-of-the-art production facility to manufacture plant-based meat products including beef, pork and chicken under the Beyond Meat brand in China.

The production facilities will be located in the JXEDZ, a historic and commercially important development zone with ready access to Shanghai.

“China is one of the world’s largest markets for animal-based meat products, and potentially for plant-based meat,” said Ethan Brown, CEO and founder of Beyond Meat.

“We are delighted and confident that after several months of productive and collaborative discussions, we will partner with the JXEDZ to develop two production facilities, including one of the world’s largest and technologically advanced plant-based meat factories.

Candy Chan, General Manager for Beyond Meat in China, added: “With its expertise in the food industry, proximity to Shanghai, and excellent logistics and people capabilities, the JXEDZ will be the perfect partner and location for our ambitious plans for the China market.”

Work is ongoing on the project, and trial production is expected to commence within months with full scale production in early 2021.