Rare Meat Company, a Chinese "plant meat" producer, plans to attract $2 million this year to enhance its influence in the Chinese market and compete with American competitors, according to foreign media.

The founder of the company said that the company was "trying to communicate" with investors from Europe, the United States and China, the Russian satellite news agency website quoted US media as saying on January 13.

The Chinese market provides a huge opportunity for meat substitute producers, the report said. In 2018, the value of meat substitutes in China reached $883.8 million, up 14.2 per cent from a year earlier, according to The Good Food Institute, a US non-profit organization. The US vegetable meat market totaled $684 million in 2018.

As there is already fierce competition among large companies, it is not easy for small and medium-sized companies to have a place in China's domestic market. Pat Brown, chief executive of Impossible Foods, an American food company, has said that the Chinese market is a "huge opportunity" for the company. China is the world's largest consumer of pork and pork products, so Impossible Foods recently launched a meat substitute. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat plans to start production in China by the end of 2020.