China's population becoming more meat-hungry

China’s 1.4 billion consumers have developed Western-style appetites for high-protein foods such as pork and beef, prompting far-reaching changes in the global economy. Lunar New Year, arguably China’s biggest annual holiday, can be seen as a barometer for the country’s economy. As more than a billion people travel, shop, eat and give gifts to family and friends, their preferences and habits paint a picture of the nation’s consumption over a few festive weeks. For decades, China has had to confront the challenge of feeding nearly one-fifth of the world’s population with less than one-tenth of its arable land. But that task has become even more daunting in recent years, as Chinese consumers increasingly adopt meat-heavy, Western-style diets that require far more resources to sustain.

The average Chinese national now consumes even more protein than an American on a daily basis, data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows, and China’s appetite for meat continues to grow. Chinese consumers had an average daily protein intake of 124.61 grams in 2021, whereas the figure for people in the United States was 124.33 grams, according to the latest available FAO data. People in China now have a far more protein-rich diet than peers in India, where the average resident consumed 70.52 grams per day in 2021. They also consume significantly more than their neighbors in Japan and South Korea. The transformation in Chinese people’s diets has primarily been driven by rising meat consumption, the FAO report found. It is a trend that is being felt across the global economy.

China is now the world’s largest consumer of animal products, swallowing up about one-third of global meat production, according to a report from the data provider World Population Review. China is increasingly relying on imports to keep meat on its people’s plates, as it can no longer satisfy demand through domestic production alone. In 2024, the country’s total meat production stood at 96.63 million tons, while its meat imports reached 6.67 million tons, according to China Customs data. Beef imports have soared from less than 300,000 tons in 2013 to 2.91 million tons last year, equivalent to more than one-third of domestic production. Brazil, Argentina, Australia and the United States are among China’s top suppliers.

American food companies have been a major beneficiary of China’s growing appetite for high-quality beef. China imported 150,521 tons of U.S. beef products worth USD1.47 billion last year, a unit price more than twice as high as that for Brazilian beef, according to data from the U.S. Meat Export Federation. The flood of meat imports has sparked calls in China for Beijing to beef up support for domestic producers. With the Lunar New Year holiday set to coincide with an abundance of meat consumption, Beijing has been advising people to limit their red meat intake to protect their health, the South China Morning Post reports.