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Fresh & Processed Meat in China 2011: A Market Analysis
Access Asia Ltd, May 2011, Pages: 116
This report covers the market for fresh and processed meat in China, and covers fresh, processed, frozen, chilled and canned meats, including beef and veal, mutton and goat, pork, poultry and other meats.
In value terms, China's meat market is the second largest sector in the country's entire retail food market. Yet it has been one of the slowest to receive the benefits of the development of new retail formats. Much of the meat sold retail continues to be sold at wet markets, most of which are to be found in open-air market places or streets. These markets provide a venue at which the customer can buy live poultry or freshly slaughtered meat produce direct from local farmers. However, these markets have gradually been removed from many cities, while supermarkets and hypermarkets are now beginning to take their place.
China's meat market has less to do with company and brand shares than sectoral growth: local consumers eat far greater quantities of fresh meat than they did before economic reforms were launched some 25 years ago. Not only are today's consumers able to buy more meat than ever before: they also have a far wider choice of meat from which to choose.
Improved choice stems in part from vast improvements in China's distribution networks ¨C thanks in turn to expanding transport networks ¨C which have helped to develop more regional trade in fresh and processed meats. More produce is therefore moving around the country, reaching consumers in other regions.
Processed meat products are mainly sold through new retail formats such as supermarkets and hypermarkets. Organised supermarket chains are gaining significance as sellers of processed meats, particularly for frozen and chilled products.
This suits the increasingly sophisticated and demanding needs of urban consumers with rising incomes. People are now able to buy more expensive cuts of meat than before, leading to greater demand for variety and quality of produce.
As their incomes and lifestyles improve, Chinese consumers are showing a greater interest in a more varied diet, and cooking with a wider variety of products. As in the West, cookery programmes have proliferated on Chinese television. Similarly, cookery books now fill large sections of local bookshops, reflecting considerable interest in cooking and cuisine amongst local consumers.
The increasing availability of processed and packaged foods has also added to the general growth in people's interest in food, and all of these factors add to the growing demand for more variety and better quality of meat products. Sharp growth in consumer demand has prompted meat producers to introduce greater efficiencies into their organisations.
Improved farming techniques and management have been leading to larger-scale operations which increasingly rely on automation in production, packaging and transportation ¨C a process which is now creating some very sizeable meat supply companies. Although still in its earliest stages, this trend will develop as growers become actively involved in supplying to the fast-growing supermarket and hypermarket chains rapidly expanding outside China's largest cities.
However, frequent food safety scares, especially related to hygiene, disease and the use of rapid growth hormones, have all added to consumer nervousness about the meat that they buy, and these issues have repeatedly shown the potential to seriously harm the market.
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