Development of consumer preferences on the significant markets of pig meat

The aim of the article is to describe the broader context and to verify the relationship of consumer preferences with the income situation of the population in selected regions of the world.This paper deals with the development of consumer preferences in case of pork meat commodity, through verification of relationship between consumption of pork meat and GDP per capita in selected regions (countries) of the world. Very strong relationship of dependency between the level of GDP / per capita and Consumption of animal protein / per capita has been proven through numerous scientific studies. There are also investigated the specifics, conditions and assumptions for the global market of the given commodity in the regional aspects. Consumer preferences (of investigated commodity) in the world are various due to many different factors. The current societal demand is characterized by a number of requirements for the organizations involved in the pork meat commodity chain. In the past has been considered as the most important measure to produce a cheap and safe food. Nowadays these requirements are extended on other important factors such as sustainable production, animal welfare, ethical procedures, etc. The largest extension of these requirements is typical mainly for the European markets. This creates a considerable upward pressure on costs of European businesses, which is one of the sources of their declining competitiveness in the global markets.