About The Market

A Report on China' Food Processing Development and Demands for Food Processing and Packaging Machinery

As one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, China has reached a per-capita GDP of US$1,180 by 2005, and is expected to keep an annual growth rate at 7% for the forthcoming 5 years. The rapid development of China’s economy and over 1.3 billion populations has created a huge consuming market for food industry.

The statistic from China Food and Packaging Machinery Industry Association (CFPMA) indicates that, in 2005, the total overseas trade amount of agricultural product reaches US$57 billion, of which the total trade volume of milk product and meat product climbed to US$7 billion and US$12 billion respectively. The fast development of food industry requires great quantities of high-quality food packaging and processing machinery, which gives the industry an excellent business opportunity. Meanwhile, the advance of the technology and the improvement of people's living standard are also creating a strong impetus to the industry.

Total meat output will reach 72 million tons, of which the processed meat products will reach 6 million tons, i.e. the meat consumption will maintain an average annual growth rate of 3 - 5%. Grain processing will hold 15% of the grain output instead of present 8% and reach 82.5 million tons; Total output of edible sugar, edible vegetable oil and canned food will be respectively 10 million, 30 million and 3.8 million tons; Total output of dairy products and liquid milk will reach 800,000 tons and 2 million tons respectively, and the average per capita consumption will be increased to 10 kg from the present 6.4 kg; Total output of beverage product will be 27 million tons, the average per capita consumption wil be increased to 20 kg from the present 10 kg; bottled water, juice and juice drinks, functional drinks will be highlighted while the carbonate drinks will be consistently decreased.

The above increase of food industry requires US$1.8-2.4 billion worth of food processing and packaging machinery by 2005.

In addition, of the annual 460 million tons of vegetable output, only 5 - 10% is processed or stored, mainly for export, while in developed countries it is 20-60%. The low utilization ratio of resources (less than 70% on an average) is the major problem for grain processing. The same situation is for fruit processing. Hence it ecomes a vital task for China in the next few years to improve the comprehensive utilization and further processing of agricultural and side-line products .

In the past 5 years, the food processing and packaging machinery industry expands at an average rate of 11%-12%. In 2005, the total trade volume of the industry rose to US$3 billion, of which 32% comes from food processing machinery. By 2010, the market need can reach US$25 billion. China is believed to have become the second largest packaging machinery export country in the world. Even more, the Chinese government lists the food processing and packaging machinery in the initiative development realm in the 11th Five-Yea Plan (2006-2010). It is thus clear that China's food processing and packaging industry will maintain a steady increase in the coming years.