Economic growth and food policy in urban China
| Date | 06 February 2009 |
| Pages | 18-30 |
| Published date | 06 February 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17544400910934324 |
| Author | Lily Kiminami,Akira Kiminami |
| Subject Matter | Economics |
JCEFTS
2,1
18
Journal of Chinese Economic and
Foreign Trade Studies
Vol. 2 No. 1, 2009
pp. 18-30
#Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1754-4408
DOI 10.1108/17544400910934324
Economic growth and food policy
in urban China
Lily Kiminami
Institute of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan, and
Akira Kiminami
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, The University of Tokyo,
Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the influence that economic growth gives to the
food consumption in urban China by taking income gap into consideration. It also proposes an
appropriate food policy corresponding to the consumers’ diversified needs for food under the process
of economic growth.
Design/methodology/approach – Various kinds of methodologies are employed such as the
interview analysis, food tasting investigation, group discussion, retail price investigation and the
questionnaire survey, etc. for the case study from Shanghai.
Findings – Food policy for China in the current stage should be considered to supply food with a
constant quality to the poorest segment of the population at cheap price and to correspond to the
diversified needs of the general public for food (including high quality and safety intention of top-tier
population).
Originality/value – Not only the existence of income gap but also the realities of the difference in
the food consumption among the poorest segment, the general public and the rich layer of the
population are clarified. The food policy which attempts to correspond to the diversified needs for
food and to realize a sustainable development of the society is proposed.
Keywords Government policy, Food products, Economic growth, China
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Food policy is the area of public p olicy concerned with, among other things, achieving
a food supply that meets the food demand for a given society. Numerous factors
determine the food demand of a society including population size , income, price,
preference and culture. Among the various aspects of food demand, however, the one
that immediately pertains to people’s lives is the issue of food security, which should be
achieved as the principlepu rpose of food policy (FAO, 1996).
Meanwhile, the economic growth of a society has a substantial influence on food
consumption. For instance, the amount of per capita expenditure on food in urban
China has increased from 1,673.6 to 2,914.4 yuan during the period of 1985-2005, while
expenditure on grain has declined from 427.4 to 242.2 yuan in the same p eriod[1].
These changes suggest that the structure of food consumption in u rban China has
shifted from products with low income elasticity (suc h as grains) to products with high
income elasticity (such as meat and poultr y). This structural change is also evidenced
by a shift in Chinese consumption weights of grain in the same period: from grain
products such as wheat, to rice that has a high unit price[2]. In addition, the rice
consumption pattern of the top-tier p opulation has changed from purchase intention
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1754-4408.htm
This paper was presented at the 10th International Conference on Global Business and
Economic Development (SGBED), Kyoto, Japan, August 8-11, 2007.
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