An Analysis of Food Demand in China: A Case Study of Urban Households in Jiangsu Province

Abstract

C has had one of the world’s most rapidly developing economies for at least the past two decades. Population growth, accompanied by recent economic growth and rapid urbanization, has led to an increase in food demand and a considerable change in the composition of foods consumed in China. Rural households (roughly 60% of China’s consumers) decreased their per capita at-home consumption of food grains from 262 kg per person in 1990 to 219 kg per person in 2004, a decrease of over 16%. At the same time, they raised their per capita at-home consumption of foods of animal origin (meats, poultry, eggs, aquatic products, and dairy products), from 28 kg per person in 1990 to 42 kg per person in 2004, an increase of 50%. Urban at-home consumption of foods has changed even more drastically. The per capita consumption of food grains declined by 40%, from 131 kg in 1990 to 78 kg in 2004; whereas per capita consumption of foods of animal origin increased by 78%, from 41 kg in 1990 to 73 kg in 2004 [China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 1991–2005]. Considering that China has over one-fifth of the world’s consumers and an economy that has grown at an average rate of 9–10% annually since 1978, this country’s changing food consumption patterns have the potential to significantly impact the global magnitude and pattern of food demand. Research is needed to provide a better understanding of China’s food buyer preferences and the potential for marketing food in China. Several studies have been conducted on China’s household demand for food. However, these studies have not taken into account the more recent changes in economic structure in China, including the rapidly rising incomes during the past decade. These past studies have used a variety of data, including aggregate time-series data (Lewis and Andrews), aggregate city-level cross-sectional data (Wu, Li, and Samuel), pooled time-series and cross-sectional data at the provincial