China’s appetite for American protein is growing. Economists say that the numbers show there has been a significant jump in U.S. beef and port exports heading into Beijing over the last decade.
According to Carl Zulauf with Ohio State University, “They went from about .4 percent of their domestic consumption from beef in 2011 to 17.5 percent in 2018 being sourced by imports. Pork went from .8 percent in 2011 to 2.6 percent in 2018... They were importing an additional, each year, an average increase of 423 million pounds of beef and 235 million pounds of pork. So, that is quite an annual increase.”
He also expects the plant based protein market to grow in China over the next couple of years, which could create new opportunities for U.S. growers.
