Animal product consumption trends in China

How much animal product do the Chinese consume at present? How much animal product will the Chinese consume in the near future? Plausible estimates that can answer these questions seem to be extremely scarce. On the other hand, there has been strong demand for such estimates by many in trade and government departments who are concerned about China’s livestock industry development and animal product market potential but are puzzled by the fact that China’s consumption of animal products only accounts for about 40% of their availability. We believe that the present level of animal product consumption in China is underestimated, which subsequently causes enormous difficulty in projecting China’s future animal product consumption. This paper contributes to the literature by estimating a set of animal product consumption levels for China at present and in the near future. It first derives the present level of animal product consumption in China by establishing a production-consumption balance sheet. Based on this adjusted consumption level, the paper then projects likely scenarios of China’s animal product consumption in 2010 by considering the key factors that may affect China’s future animal product consumption.