Science

In many countries, meat is subsidized.

Lentilles. Don't use them to substitute ground beef, learn to use them and you'll gladly reduce your ground beef consumption

Bulk refrigeration. There are equally cheap bulk items that fit in a plant based diet.

I hope it is only to pay off R&D and marketing using current monopolistic position. Also not having big market.

We will see in five years.

1/5 the price of branded stuff, but very similar to the price of dry TVP, which replaces ground beef very well in casseroles or chili (properly seasoned, and with oil added to the recipe to make up for the near-total lack of fat in TVP), and is workable in more exposed applications like meatloaf. Also great for sausage, in my opinion, though strictly speaking that’s a case of replacing pork or turkey.

(If you’re curious, the trick is 1 tsp seasoning blend added to 1 cup TVP while dry, then soaked in 1 cup hot water (vegetable stock is better, but not essential), let it sit for about 15 minutes, and, hey presto, you just skipped the part where you dump a pound of raw meat in a pan, brown it, and drain off the fat preparatory to adding it to a recipe. Add oil during cooking as appropriate, or don’t, and a little soy sauce is always good to add umami, but I find it’s enough to get some herbs and spices in at the start, and just adjust seasoning in the final recipe if necessary. It will be chewy, and it will stay chewy no matter how you cook it, which I like, but be aware. I find it way easier and more fun to cook with than meat).

(I know this sounds like an infomercial, lol, but I was initially intimidated by TVP since I didn’t know what to do with it, and now it’s a staple in my kitchen, so I thought others might want to know).