Jul 02 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)
Move over pork: 14 yrs on, China to tuck into US beef
Beijing:
REUTERS
|
China's online retailers and US giant Walmart are scrambling to satisfy the voracious appetites of consumers excited about the first American beef to arrive in the most populous nation in 14 years with the pork-mad country seeing a shift towards Western eating practices.“I am a frequent buyer of steak so I can tell the quality by its colour and marbling,“ said one woman at a Sams Club store in Beijing owned by Walmart. She selected a $31.13 pack of US steak over her usual Australian brand. Other shoppers said imported beef was sup erior and worth its hefty price.
Beef is the fastest-growing meat sector in China, outstripping stagnant demand for more widely eaten pork, with consumers seeking healthier sources of protein. China's beef imports hit $2.6 billion last year, making it the world's fastest-growing overseas market for the meat. Consumer excitement about the lifting of a 2003 ban due to a scare over the mad cow disease looks set to help US beef grab a significant share of that demand.
US agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue is in Beijing to mark the return of US beef to China, and is expected to meet his counterpart Han Changfu, as well as vice premier Wang Yang. About a million are expected to join the woman in the Sams Club store as some of the first to buy US beef in China in more than a decade.
“US steak doesn't have the mutton smell of domestic beef,“ said one user on Weibo.Still, fears linger, despite Beijing's stringent import requirements. One shopper said, “We should not stick to foreign beef only . They have food safety issues, like growth hormones and genetically modified organisms) in the US.“
Beef is the fastest-growing meat sector in China, outstripping stagnant demand for more widely eaten pork, with consumers seeking healthier sources of protein. China's beef imports hit $2.6 billion last year, making it the world's fastest-growing overseas market for the meat. Consumer excitement about the lifting of a 2003 ban due to a scare over the mad cow disease looks set to help US beef grab a significant share of that demand.
US agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue is in Beijing to mark the return of US beef to China, and is expected to meet his counterpart Han Changfu, as well as vice premier Wang Yang. About a million are expected to join the woman in the Sams Club store as some of the first to buy US beef in China in more than a decade.
“US steak doesn't have the mutton smell of domestic beef,“ said one user on Weibo.Still, fears linger, despite Beijing's stringent import requirements. One shopper said, “We should not stick to foreign beef only . They have food safety issues, like growth hormones and genetically modified organisms) in the US.“
No comments:
Post a Comment