Chinese consumers' preferences for imported beef products

Abstract

China's rapidly growing food market offers opportunities for foreign beef producers, thanks to its sizable population and increasing income levels. This study examined Chinese consumers' preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for credence attributes of beef from the domestic market and other large exporting countries. Three beef cuts were considered: steak, brisket, and tongue. Data were collected from an online survey incorporating choice experiments (CEs) of 2016 consumers from China in 2021. Each respondent was presented with three beef alternatives that differed in price, country of origin, food safety, and production certifications, and also included a “no purchase” option. Chinese consumers' beef selections in the CEs were analyzed using a mixed logit model in WTP space. Results indicate that the type of cut does not influence Chinese consumers' evaluation of country of origin and credence attributes. Moreover, results show that Chinese consumers strongly prefer and are willing to pay more for domestic beef than imported beef. Beef from New Zealand had the highest WTP value among all the exporting countries, followed by Argentina, Australia, Canada, Uruguay, Brazil, and the United States. Also, enhanced food safety, Organic, and Green Food certifications had positive WTP values. The findings of this study offer evidence that Chinese consumers prefer safe and quality‐assured beef products. This information can be used by beef producers targeting the Chinese market to design production and marketing strategies.