Grocery retailers eye China appetite for food products
2012-05-03 16:42:31
In China for China. That's the chant likely to accompany an intense wave of westernisation of the food market here. As China notched up another first this month — as the world's biggest grocery market — it's curling up for a fresh wave of change.
The entire food chain from commodities, to food companies and retail stores to packaging, logistics and health and lifestyle — no sector will remain untouched.
China has overtaken the US as the world's biggest grocery market with food shopping here worth $970 billion at end of 2011, against America's $913.5 billion. A growing middle class, increasing levels of disposal income, and a greedy appetite for more prepared and packaged foods make the prospects a gargantuan one — a $1 trillion plus market by 2015. This mouth-watering projection is enough for multinational giants to beef up their China plans, even as economists ring the alarm bell on rising food prices.
What makes China a haven for food companies? Frenzied urbanisation coupled with a growing middle class, and desire for more hygienic and expensive, lifestyle foods is on the rise. The Chinese government too is intent on promoting domestic consumption.