China's animal protein consumption rising

China's pork consumption is outperforming other types of animal protein, according to the country's household survey--a result that seems inconsistent with depressed prices in the country's pork industry.

The survey data from 2013 to 2022 show a dip in pork consumption during 2020 when China had a severe pork shortage due to an African swine fever outbreak. Then pork consumption snapped back in 2021 as the sector recovered and rose even higher in 2022--a year when much of the country was under lockdown. The recent strong growth contrasts with flat consumption from 2013 to 2018.

Source: China national household survey data compiled from China Statistical Yearbooks.

China's consumption of other animal proteins is generally on the rise too, but quantities are smaller than for pork. 

  • Poultry consumption rose by 3.7 kg/person in 2020 as consumers sought out substitutes for expensive pork that year. Since then poultry consumption has dropped by 1 kg but is still higher than any year before 2020.
  • Egg consumption also had a strong 3-kg bump during 2018-20 and kept growing during 2021-22. 
  • Fish and shellfish consumption increased 2.2 kg in 2020 and has plateaued since then. 
  • Dairy consumption doesn't show much of a trend. Dairy spiked in 2021 and dropped in 2022. 
  • Per-capita consumption of beef and mutton is still low and on a pretty steady rising trend.
In the overall consumption picture, 
  • Consumption of meat/eggs/fish/dairy rose from about 60 kg to 83 kg between 2013 and 2021, then dropped to 82 kg in 2022. 
  • Consumption of cereals was 123.7 kg and consumption of vegetables was 108.2 kg in 2022. 
  • The declining trend in consumption of cereal grains reversed, rising by 13.5 kg during 2019-21 then dropped by 6.4 kg in 2022. 
  • Vegetable consumption rose about 10 kg from 2019 to 2021, then dipped slightly in 2022.
Source: China national household survey data compiled from China Statistical Yearbooks

Rural households appear to have caught up with urban households in consumption of pork, poultry, and eggs during 2021-22. Rural consumption of pork actually outpaced urban consumption in 2022. Rural consumption of fish and beef/mutton is still lower than that of their urban cousins. 
Source: China national household survey data compiled from China Statistical Yearbooks

These numbers should be interpreted with caution since the household survey has historically been inconsistent with aggregate production data. The survey only records purchases for at-home consumption--it excludes consumption in cafeterias and restaurants. Lockdowns during most of 2022, cessation of travel, and closure of cafeterias and restaurants may have boosted at-home consumption, but there were extended times when Chinese residents couldn't even go to markets to buy food either. The survey is based on detailed diaries of all food purchased/consumed by a large sample of households--did they keep up this activity during the months of lockdowns in their homes or quarantine hotels? 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi Dim Sums, I am Mei, the agriculture reporter with Reuters News in Beijing. I love your witty insights and would love to connect! How may i get in touch with you? I'm reachable at meifong.chu@tr.com
January 3, 2024 at 1:07 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

China's beef & dairy farmers running out of money

Image
Last week's meeting of the standing committee of China's State Council called for relief policies to help beef and dairy farmers who are in financial straits . According to a report on the meeting cattle and sheep farms have seen shrinking profits due to falling prices and rising costs. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) has organized several meetings since August to address dairy and beef issues. An August 21 meeting concluded that the industry faces a dire situation with large losses for farmers and companies due to poor dairy and beef prices and pressure from imports.  MARA data indicate that China's beef prices have been on a downward trend over the past two years. The average September 2024 price is down 23 percent since the decline began in January 2023. The current average beef price is about the same as in 2019. Source: Wholesale price data compiled from China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. China's milk prices have been on a s...
Read more

Xi Jinping's Doctoral Thesis

Xi Jinping is the vice president and presumed next president of China but little is known about him. In this post the dimsums blog offers its contribution to the genre of Xi Jinping-ology by conveying Xi's decade-old views on agricultural markets. Ten years ago Xi Jinping wrote a thesis, "Tentative Study of Agricultural Marketization" (中国农村市场化研究) for a Doctor of Law degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing, a top breeding-ground for Chinese officials. The dimsums blogger has spent several hours poring over the 200-plus page tome to see what it reveals about Dr. Xi. The thesis is remarkably close to what China has been doing lately in agricultural policy, suggesting that Xi (or the person who actually wrote the thesis) has a major say in policy or is at least in agreement with what's being done. There is nothing adventurous, controversial (or insightful) in the thesis. It seems to be the work of a wonkish technocrat who is not prone to talk out of turn or wander from...
Read more

China's Socialist Economy With Landlord Characteristics

Image
Chinese leaders pacified the urban citizenry by turning them into an army of real estate tycoons and landlords--precisely the class of people who were shot en masse when the communist party seized control of the country 70 years ago. Thirty years on from June 4, 1989, wealth generated by expensive concrete cubes stacked into the sky on state-owned land and financed by state-owned banks has proven to be an effective balm for taming a restive population. In April, the Peoples Bank of China released a financial survey of 30,000 urban households conducted in 2019. A summary of the results by 21st Century Business News showed that the average urban family in China had assets of 3.179 million yuan (about $454,000), debt of 512,000 yuan ($73,000), and a fat net worth of  2.89 million yuan ($381,000). Source: Peoples Bank of China 2019 urban family financial survey. The average asset value of $454,000 for urban Chinese families is not that far behind the U.S. average of $792,000 (...
Read more