EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. — Beyond Meat Inc.’s volume of product sold during the second quarter of fiscal 2024 fell 14% to 22,915 lbs as the company continued to deal with a weak market for plant-based meat alternatives. In US Retail, the company’s largest category, volume of product sold fell more than 23% to 10,550 lbs.

“Volume of products sold (at US Retail) decreased 23.2%, primarily reflecting ongoing demand softness in the plant-based meat category and the lapping of substantial promotional sales to a club channel customer in the year-ago period,” said Lubi Kutua, chief financial officer and treasurer during an Aug. 7 conference call to discuss second-quarter results. “However, we were pleased to see a 20.5% increase in net revenue per pound, primarily resulting from lower trade discounts, changes in product sales mix and the early impact from recent pricing actions.”

For the quarter ended July 1, the company recorded a loss of $34.5 million, an improvement over the second quarter of fiscal 2023 when the company recorded a loss of $53.5 million.

Quarterly sales fell to $93.2 million from $102.2 million the year before.

Gross profit in the second quarter was $13.7 million, a gross margin of 14.7%, compared to gross profit of $2.3 million and a gross margin of 2.2%, in the prior year period. Gross profit and gross margin in the second quarter of 2024 were positively impacted by decreased cost of goods sold and increased net revenue per pound, partially offset by decreased volume of products sold, according to the company. The decrease in cost of goods sold per pound primarily reflected lower inventory provision, lower manufacturing costs, including depreciation, and lower logistics costs, partially offset by higher materials costs, the company said.

“Importantly, we expect to see further gross margin progress across the balance of the year, reflecting the combined impact of more fully distributed pricing adjustments, continued moderation of promotional spending and ongoing COGS (cost of goods sold) improvements as we consolidate our network and continue on our lean management journey,” said Ethan Brown, president and chief executive officer.

The company also is “narrowing” its focus on specific products and markets, including the Beyond IV product line that was introduced earlier this year and the Beyond Sun Sausage introduced in July.

Brown said he is pleased with the performance of the Beyond IV line.

“If you strip away the promotional activity … which kind of tends to distort the year-over-year numbers, and if you just look at the base and then you look at some of our larger accounts, you do see velocity for the Beyond IV items, particularly beef and the burger, which is where we have the most data,” he said. “You’re seeing growth in certain accounts that are significant national grocery accounts and then seeing stabilization in others.”

For the first six months of fiscal 2024 Beyond Meat recorded a loss of $88.8 million, an improvement over the previous year when the company had a loss of $108.8 million. Sales for the period fell 13% to $168.8 million from $194.4 million in 2023.