How Much Animal Product do the Chinese Consume? Empirical Evidence from Household Surveys

Reliable information about animal product consumption in China is extremely important for policy formulation and marketing activities. However, publications by China's State Statistical Bureau underestimate animal product consumption. Such underestimated statistics affect policy making and marketing initiatives and also lead to the estimation of distorted parameters that are crucial for other research work. Based on a large-scale household survey, this paper presents findings on animal product consumption in China. Our results show that the consumption of animal products in China has reached a much higher level than was previously held and the SSB statistics underestimate this consumption by as much as 30 to 60%. The paper also identifies the major factors that affect animal product consumption in China. Implications of the findings are discussed.