huaxia rox
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TODAYonline | World | China now the world's biggest grocery market
BEIJING - China has overtaken the United States to become the world's biggest market for grocery shopping, according to the latest report to underscore the country's growing global economic dominance.
The Chinese grocery sector will continue its fast growth over the next few years to hit almost £1 trillion (S$2 trillion) by 2015, according to grocery industry researchers IGD. That trend brings opportunities for both Chinese and international retailers, but economists warn it will also put upward pressure on already high food prices.
Driven by a growing population, a move to more expensive foods and robust economic growth, the Chinese grocery sector was worth £607 billion at the end of last year, while the US market slipped to second place at £572 billion, IGD said in a report yesterday.
The researchers forecast that China's market will grow at twice the pace of the US to be worth £918 billion by 2015.
"China's grocery growth story is phenomenal," said IGD chief executive Joanne Denney-Finch. "Despite its various logistical and bureaucratic challenges, China is a crucial growth market for many of the world's largest grocery retailers. Even beyond the major cities there are huge opportunities: Forecasts suggest there will be over 200 Chinese cities with a population of over a million by 2025."
The report also predicts that all the BRIC - Brazil, Russia, India, China - nations will be in the top five grocery markets by 2015, with India displacing Japan as the world's third-largest grocery market by value. IGD predicts that Indonesia will enter the top 10 list for the first time.
Mr Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at consultancy PwC, said the forecasts "reflect a broader shift in the global economy to the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific is going to be dominant in the world economy looking ahead".
"The negative is that this is putting a lot of upward pressure on energy and commodity prices. So while consumers seem to be benefiting in some ways, they are also facing pressures they have never seen before," he added.
Mr Sentance warned that growth in Chinese markets presents challenges as well as opportunities for businesses in Western markets, which he sees facing a "new normal" of disappointing growth and volatile commodity markets.
IGD estimates that international grocery retailers could open more than 2,700 stores in China over the next four years - around 13 a week.
The grocery boom brings mixed blessings for China's population, nutrition experts warn. Many rural parts suffer from malnutrition, while urban areas are being increasingly served by outlets offering less healthy convenience foods.
"Obesity is already growing in the younger generation in big cities," said Mr Peter Ben Embarek, food safety expert at the World Health Organisation, pointing to further pressures from a rising demand for animal protein. Agencies
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my comments:
actually maybe no country in the world is like prc which has a place called hong kong where billions r being spent by mainlanders every single year due to relatively lower tax yet the number wont be counted on prc but hong kong itself........
so i dont know if prc is real a nation said to be consuming too little and only good at dumping money on infra structure..........
BEIJING - China has overtaken the United States to become the world's biggest market for grocery shopping, according to the latest report to underscore the country's growing global economic dominance.
The Chinese grocery sector will continue its fast growth over the next few years to hit almost £1 trillion (S$2 trillion) by 2015, according to grocery industry researchers IGD. That trend brings opportunities for both Chinese and international retailers, but economists warn it will also put upward pressure on already high food prices.
Driven by a growing population, a move to more expensive foods and robust economic growth, the Chinese grocery sector was worth £607 billion at the end of last year, while the US market slipped to second place at £572 billion, IGD said in a report yesterday.
The researchers forecast that China's market will grow at twice the pace of the US to be worth £918 billion by 2015.
"China's grocery growth story is phenomenal," said IGD chief executive Joanne Denney-Finch. "Despite its various logistical and bureaucratic challenges, China is a crucial growth market for many of the world's largest grocery retailers. Even beyond the major cities there are huge opportunities: Forecasts suggest there will be over 200 Chinese cities with a population of over a million by 2025."
The report also predicts that all the BRIC - Brazil, Russia, India, China - nations will be in the top five grocery markets by 2015, with India displacing Japan as the world's third-largest grocery market by value. IGD predicts that Indonesia will enter the top 10 list for the first time.
Mr Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at consultancy PwC, said the forecasts "reflect a broader shift in the global economy to the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific is going to be dominant in the world economy looking ahead".
"The negative is that this is putting a lot of upward pressure on energy and commodity prices. So while consumers seem to be benefiting in some ways, they are also facing pressures they have never seen before," he added.
Mr Sentance warned that growth in Chinese markets presents challenges as well as opportunities for businesses in Western markets, which he sees facing a "new normal" of disappointing growth and volatile commodity markets.
IGD estimates that international grocery retailers could open more than 2,700 stores in China over the next four years - around 13 a week.
The grocery boom brings mixed blessings for China's population, nutrition experts warn. Many rural parts suffer from malnutrition, while urban areas are being increasingly served by outlets offering less healthy convenience foods.
"Obesity is already growing in the younger generation in big cities," said Mr Peter Ben Embarek, food safety expert at the World Health Organisation, pointing to further pressures from a rising demand for animal protein. Agencies
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my comments:
actually maybe no country in the world is like prc which has a place called hong kong where billions r being spent by mainlanders every single year due to relatively lower tax yet the number wont be counted on prc but hong kong itself........
so i dont know if prc is real a nation said to be consuming too little and only good at dumping money on infra structure..........