농·축·수산물 1년 전보다 11.1% 상승
석유류 가격 하락 공업제품 전년보다 0.9% 하락
지난달 소비자물가 상승률이 0.6%를 기록해 2개월 연속 0%대에 머물렀다. 신종 코로나바이러스 감염증(코로나19) 확산으로 소비가 줄면서 저물가 기조가 이어지고 있다.
4차 추가경정예산(추경) 예산에 포함된 통신비 지원 효과가 축소되면서 공공서비스 가격 하락 폭이 축소되고 지난해 기저효과로 농산물 가격이 상승했다. 통계청이 2일 발표한 '11월 소비자물가동향'에 따르면 지난달 소비자물가지수는 105.50 (2015=100)으로 1년 전과 비교했을 때 0.6% 상승했다.
전년 동월과 비교하는 소비자물가 상승률은 올해 1월(1.5%)부터 3개월 연속 1%대를 유지하다가 지난 4월(0.1%) 0%대로 내려앉더니 5월(-0.3%)에는 마이너스 물가를 기록했다. 6월(0.0%) 보합을 보인 후 7월(0.3%)부터는 5개월째 오름세를 보였다. 지난 9월(1.0%) 1%대 상승률을 보였으나 10월(0.1%)부터 다시 0%대로 주저앉았다.
안형준 통계청 경제동향통계심의관은 "통신비 지원 효과가 대부분 사라지면서 공공서비스 하락 폭이 축소되고 지난해 기상 여건이 좋아 농산물 가격이 낮았던 것에 따른 기저효과로 농산물 가격이 상승했다"면서 "2월부터 국제유가 인하로 석유류 하락이 지속되면서 저물가 현상이 이어졌다"고 설명했다.
농·축·수산물은 1년 전보다 11.1% 상승했다. 가을 배추·무·계절과일 출하 등의 영향으로 채소류 가격 상승률이 전월(20.2%)보다는 축소된 7.0%에 그쳤다. 다만 지난해 가격 상승 폭이 제약된 데 따른 기저효과로 농산물 가격이 1년 전보다 13.2% 오르면서 전체 물가를 0.54%포인트(p) 끌어올렸다.
돼지고기(18.4%), 국산 쇠고기(10.5%) 등 가격 상승으로 축산물 물가도 1년 전보다 9.9% 올랐다. 수산물은 1년 전보다 6.1% 상승했다.
코로나19 확산으로 소비가 줄면서 11월 소비자물가 상승률이 0.6%에 그쳤다.
공업제품은 전년보다 0.9% 하락했다. 가공식품은 1.6% 상승했으나 석유류가 14.8% 하락한 원인이 컸다. 석유류는 올해 6월(-15.4%) 이후 5개월 만에 최대 폭으로 감소했다. 도시가스(-10.3%), 지역 난방비(-2.6%) 등이 인하하면서 전기·수도·가스 가격도 1년 전보다 4.1% 하락했다.
안 심의관은 "국제 유가가 국내에 미치는 영향은 한 달 정도 시차가 있는데 12월에는 석유류 가격이 오를 가능성이 있다"며 "환율이 낮아지면 국내 유가가 떨어지는데 최근 환율 변동성이 커졌다"고 말했다.
서비스 물가는 1년 전보다 0.4% 상승했다. 공공서비스가 2.0% 하락하며 전체 물가 하락에 0.28%p 기여했다. 4차 추경 예산을 통한 알뜰폰의 통신비 지원이 이달까지 반영하면서 하락세가 이어졌다. 하지만 통신비 지원이 몰렸던 10월(-6.6%)보다는 하락 폭은 축소됐다.
개인서비스는 1.3% 상승했으나 외식 물가는 코로나19 3차 확산 영향으로 0.9% 상승하는 데 그쳤다. 동월 기준으로 봤을 때 예년에는 2~3% 상승률을 보였지만, 코로나19로 인한 사회적 거리두기로 집밥 소비가 늘면서 외식 물가 상승률이 둔화됐다.
구입빈도와 지출 비중이 높은 141개 품목을 중심으로 체감 물가를 나타내는 생활물가지수는 1년 전보다 0.1% 하락했다. 지난 10월(-0.7%)에 이어 2달 연속 내림세에 머물렀다.
생선, 해산물, 채소, 과일 등 기상 조건이나 계절에 따라 가격 변동이 큰 50개 품목의 물가를 반영하는 신선식품지수는 지난해 같은 기간보다 13.1% 상승했다. 8월(15.8%), 9월(21.5%), 10월(19.9%)에 이어 4개월 연속 두 자릿수 상승률을 기록했다.
계절적 요인이나 일시적 충격에 의한 물가변동분을 제외하고 장기적인 추세를 파악하기 위해 작성하는 농산물 및 석유류제외지수(근원물가)는 1년 전보다 1.0% 상승했다. 지난 7월(1.0%) 이후 1년 4개월 만에 1%대를 회복한 셈이다.
경제협력개발기구(OECD) 기준 근원물가인 식료품 및 에너지제외지수는 전년보다 0.6% 오르는 데 그쳤다.
SINGAPORE - The world's first cell-cultured meat product - bite-sized chicken by Californian start-up Eat Just - will soon be available at restaurants here, now that Singapore authorities have deemed it safe for consumption.
Cultured meat, which involves making meat products by culturing animal cells instead of by slaughter, is not yet available for sale and consumption anywhere else in the world.
The cultured chicken bites will be manufactured in Singapore, said Eat Just chief executive Josh Tetrick.
"Singapore's regulatory approval of Eat Just's cultured chicken as food... paves the way for the product to be served to consumers in a restaurant setting soon," Mr Tetrick told The Straits Times, although he would not be drawn on a timeline for when the product might be available.
He said that for a start, the chicken bites would probably cost as much as "premium chicken customers would enjoy at a restaurant".
But prices would fall as production is scaled up, he added, noting that costs were already a third of what they were a year ago.
"To achieve our mission, we'll need to be below the cost of conventional chicken, which we expect to happen in the years ahead," he added.
The chicken bites also have the potential to be Halal-certified, said Mr Tetrick, and this is something the company will consider in the future.
Ensuring food safety
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said on Wednesday (Dec 2) that it is allowing Eat Just's cultured chicken to be sold in Singapore, now that its evaluations have determined that it is safe.
Dr Tan Lee Kim, SFA director-general for food administration, said food safety was a principal consideration in production.
"SFA will review the safety assessments of these alternative protein products scientifically and consult experts to safeguard food safety and public health. We will also monitor such new products when they enter the market," she said.
The evaluation process includes considerations of factors such as the product's manufacturing process and toxicity of ingredients, as well as whether the final product meets the standards in food regulation.
The SFA had in November 2019 published on its website a document detailing information that would be required for the safety assessment of such novel foods.
The chicken bites by Eat Just is the first product to pass SFA's evaluation process under the new regulatory framework. PHOTO: COURTESY OF EAT JUST
These include cultured meat products, such as the chicken bites by Eat Just, as well as certain types of insect, algae and fungi-based proteins.
The term novel foods refers to products that do not have a history of safe use.
A history of safe use is defined by the SFA as that of substances consumed by a significant human population as part of their diet for at least 20 years without reported adverse health effects.
Singapore's regulatory framework was formed by the SFA in 2019, following consultations with the scientific community and food businesses.
Many plant-based meat products are not categorised as novel foods as they are made of proteins extracted from other commonly consumed plants.
The chicken bites by Eat Just is the first product to pass SFA's evaluation process under the new regulatory framework.
The Straits Times understands that there are a number of other companies looking to bring in alternative proteins into Singapore, although not all products may be available commercially in the near-term.
Ants Innovate, for example, is a local company that aims to create cuts of pork using cell culture technology. It aims to grow pig muscle cells using the technology, and then put these cells onto cellular "scaffolding", The Straits Times had earlier reported. This will allow the firm to be able to produce entire cuts of meat, from pork chops to shoulders, instead of just minced meat.
'Like making beer'
Eat Just's Mr Tetrick said people might have the impression that such alternative proteins are made in laboratories.
"The meat we're making is created in large cultivators or bioreactors that, in time, will resemble a beer brewery or similar facility used for production of cultured food products," he explained.
The cultured chicken bites will be manufactured in Singapore, said Eat Just chief executive Josh Tetrick. PHOTO: COURTESY OF EAT JUST
"(Referring to it as) lab-made is a red herring and has an inherently negative connotation. Many of the foods we eat and enjoy every day, including most processed foods, start in a lab setting and are scaled up and commercialised," he added.
Ms Elaine Siu, managing director of The Good Food Institute Asia Pacific, an international non-profit that promotes protein alternatives, noted that cultivating meat in the equivalent of a brewery is safer, cleaner and more efficient than raising animals in farms.
"Rather than growing muscle tissue inside live animals, cultivated meat producers take a few animal cells and use a mixture of nutrients to grow those cells into a piece of meat," she explained.
"As a result, we get pure meat, the production of which doesn't require antibiotics, doesn't require slaughter, and doesn't suffer from fecal E. coli, salmonella, or other contamination," she said.
And modern factory farms are not so natural, Ms Siu noted, adding: "Almost all conventional meat is the product of both artificial insemination and massive doses of growth-promoting drugs."
Case for alternative proteins
The need for alternative proteins is mounting in the face of challenges such asfeeding a growing global population and climate change. The twoare intertwined.
A special report by the United Nations climate science panel had in August 2019 found that deforestation for large-scale agriculture was degrading the life-giving soil that humanity needs to feed and clothe itself, cutting yields and threatening food supplies for millions of people.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a vital guide for governments as climate change risks grow in a world where the population is heading for 10 billion people by mid-century, threatening to place even greater strains on the planet's limited resources.
But the report had also highlighted solutions, including switching to less intensive farming, ecosystem conservation and land restoration, reduced deforestation, cutting food waste and switching to climate-friendly diets.
"New innovations and alternative methods to produce protein-rich food more productively and sustainably are needed," said the SFA.
Alternative protein is considered more sustainable as large volumes can be produced with relatively small amounts of land and labour, in a climate-resilient and sustainable manner, added the agency.
Ms Siu said: "The race to divorce meat production from industrial animal agriculture is underway and nations that follow Singapore's lead will be able to reap the benefits as the entire world shifts to this new and better way of making meat."
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SINGAPORE: Consumers in Singapore can soon get a taste of lab-grown or cultured chicken after food technology start-up Eat Just received the go-ahead to sell the product here.
Announcing this on Wednesday (Dec 2), Eat Just said its cultured chicken has been given “first-in-the-world regulatory approval” by Singapore authorities. It will be used as an ingredient in its “chicken bites” or nuggets which the company plans to launch at a later date.
This would likely be the first time globally that a cultured meat product is sold commercially, said the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), which made public on Wednesday new guidelines to ensure the safety of food inventions.
Cultured or cell-based meat is meat developed in laboratories using animal cells.
San Francisco-based Eat Just, which is known for its plant-based egg substitutes, said no antibiotics were used in its product.
It added that safety tests found that its cultured chicken had "extremely low and significantly cleaner microbiological content" than traditional chicken.
"The analysis also demonstrated that cultured chicken contains a high protein content, diversified amino acid composition, high relative content in healthy monounsaturated fats and is a rich source of minerals," it said.
In a media release, the company said it took "many months" for its team of scientists, product developers and regulation experts to record the cultured chicken’s production process – information which is required under SFA rules.
"The company documented the purity, identity and stability of chicken cells during the manufacturing process, as well as a detailed description of the manufacturing process which demonstrated that harvested cultured chicken met quality controls and a rigorous food safety monitoring system", said Eat Just.
MADE IN SINGAPORE
The cultured chicken was manufactured at the Food Innovation and Resource Centre, a food research facility co-run by Singapore Polytechnic and Enterprise Singapore.
"Singapore has long been a leader in innovation of all kinds, from information technology to biologics to now leading the world in building a healthier, safer food system," said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just as he explained why Singapore was chosen as the first location to launch its chicken product.
"I'm sure that our regulatory approval for cultured meat will be the first of many in Singapore and in countries around the globe."
Josh Tetrick, the co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, said Singapore's support for food technology led him to choose the country as the launchpad of the company's first cultured chicken product. (Photo: Eat Just)
Mr Tetrick said his company is looking to offer the product at a restaurant first before distributing it to the mass market, adding that it will be priced similar to what consumers pay for "premium chicken" at restaurants.
Costs of the cell-based chicken cannot be revealed for intellectual property reasons, he said. But he expects its chicken to be below the prices of its conventional counterpart "in the years ahead".
Other ingredients used in the chicken nuggets include breadcrumbs and mung bean protein, which is also used in their plant-based eggs.
The company said it plans to introduce other cultured chicken products in future.
Eat Just, which was founded in 2011, announced in October a partnership with private equity firm Proterra Investment Partners Asia to build a US$120 million plant-protein factory in Singapore – the company’s first in Asia.
The egg-substitute maker, which counts business tycoon Li Ka-Shing and venture capital firms Khosla Ventures among its investors, is attempting to raise at least US$200 million that may give it a US$2 billion valuation, in what could be its last fundraising round before going public, Bloomberg reported in October.
Meat substitutes have become more popular in the past few years, fuelled by growing concerns about the environmental impact of animal farming and the sustainability of meat production as global population rises.
A 2019 report by Barclays predicted that the global alternative meat market, currently valued at US$14 billion - or 1 per cent of the US$1.4 trillion meat industry - could be worth 10 times more at about US$140 billion by 2029.
Local protein replacement start-ups have also recently gained ground.
On Sunday, Float Foods said it would introduce an egg substitute made of legumes in the first quarter of 2022. And last month, Shiok Meats unveiled its lab-grown lobster meat. The cultured meat producer said it aims to launch its products by 2022.
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