Demand for Food Quantity and Quality in China
by
Fred Gale and
Kuo HuangEconomic Research Report No. (ERR-32) 40 pp, January 2007
As their incomes rise, Chinese consumers are changing their diets and demanding greater quality, convenience, and safety in food. Food expenditures grow faster than quantities purchased as income rises, suggesting that consumers with higher incomes purchase more expensive foods. The top-earning Chinese households appear to have reached a point where the income elasticity of demand for quantity of most foods is near zero. China’s food market is becoming segmented. The demand for quality by high-income households has fueled recent growth in modern food retail and sales of premium-priced food and beverage products. Food expenditures and incomes have grown much more slowly for rural and low-income urban households.
Keywords: China, food, consumption, demand, income, elasticities, Engel curve, households
In this publication...
- Report summary,
138 kb
| HTML
- Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents, and Summary,
196 kb
- Introduction,
62 kb
- Chinese Household Food Spending and Income,
110 kb
- Engel Model of Food Consumption and Expenditure,
89 kb
- Results,
118 kb
- Conclusion,
58 kb
- References,
69 kb
- Appendix,
130 kb
- Entire report,
487 kb
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