Food Consumption in China

The Revolution Continues

Zhang-Yue Zhou, Hongbo Liu, James Cook University, Australia and Lijuan Cao, Nanjing Agricultural University, China

Recent decades have seen China’s domestic consumption in sectors such as food, housing, health care, education and travel greatly increase. This important book assesses China’s current food consumption trends and the outlook for its future needs of such a crucial commodity.

‘This work is not an easy read, for all the right reasons. The authors stay well away from stylised facts, instead providing a rigorous assessment that gives readers a more informed and textured understanding of key drivers of China’s food consumption. Beyond academics, commercial firms and prospective trading partners will find this book an important resource; its judicious use of tables, charts, maps and applied work paint a nuanced picture of China’s markets’ prospects and the challenges that still remain.’
– Brad Gilmour, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

‘China’s food consumption will have a fundamental impact on Chinese and global food supply and demand, and therefore food and nutrition security in the world. In addition, Chinese consumption patterns have important implications on global natural resources and the environment. To design policies and strategies to guide Chinese consumers towards a more sustainable and healthy diet requires solid data and analysis of future Chinese consumption trends. This book is a welcome first step. The authors of this book are some of the most experienced and respected researchers on Chinese agriculture and food issues. It is a valuable source of reference for researchers, government policymakers and anyone in the private sector who is interested in Chinese and global food systems.’
– Shenggen Fan, International Food Policy Research Institute, US

‘With the world’s largest population and second largest economy, China
plays an important role in global food production and consumption. This book by a distinguished group of authors presents an updated analysis of food consumption in China. The material covered is informative and comprehensive. All food-related traders, researchers and analysts would benefit from reading this book.’
– Yanrui Wu, The University of Western Australia

‘‘In general, the book provides a synthetic and updated review for transformation of food consumption in China. The book basically covered all important issues related to are analyzed in an easy way. In particular, the book successfully identifies the six main drivers behind the transformation, and analyzes the specific roles of each factor. The conclusions and projections hence are valuable for policy and business stakeholders. The book is very well written and very readable even for non-academic readers, such as commodity traders, food trade officials, and agricultural policy makers, different
from usual academic books full of jargons and equations. The structure is simple, but clear and the analysis is efficient.’
– Xiaohua Yu, Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture