Rising demand for meat will drive the Chinese food processing industry to record double digit growth, according to FoodProductionDaily.com.
Citing market research organization RNCOS’s report, Chinese Processed Food Market Analysis, the report said that the Chinese processed food industry will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33% over the next three years. The processed meat sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16% from 2010-2013.
Increasing affluence, coupled with a growing appetite for time-saving processed food is driving the demand for more processed meat meals.
Between 2000 and 2008, demand for processed meat products rocketed 345% leading it to become the fastest growing sector within the processed food industry.
The report also revealed that Chinese consumers are increasingly prepared to accept more low-temperature food products compared with high-temperature food products. This reflects a growing perception of the taste and health benefits of low-temperature foods, according to the report. This trend is already leading major Chinese processed meat manufacturers to boost their production of low-temperature food products.
“We have also found that the availability of processed foods products will improve as modern food-retailing formats look beyond to Tier-1 cities and expand their operation into Tier-2, 3 and rural cities to meet the rising demand from more affluent consumers,” said the researchers. “In order to exploit the opportunities, many local processed food producers have already started focusing on making processed food for domestic sales.”
The report also analyses growth factors such as Chinese consumer diet preferences, growing food safety concerns and intensive marketing of processed meat products and processed meat imports and prominent market players.
After processed meat, dairy and ready meals are predicted to be the two highest growing segments in China.
Researchers said the global economic crisis had hardly any impact on the Chinese processed food market.