August 24, 2006

USDA predicts a rosy future for US beef in China

Imitation is the best form of flattery.

With numerous counterfeit beef purporting to be US beef in China's market, USDA officials are able to know for sure that when the day comes that China is ready to lift its ban on US beef, banned since 2003, sales of the real McCoy would skyrocket.  

Another telling sign that US beef is assured of its popularity is the amount of smuggled US beef into South China and US beef relabeled as Canadian beef being sold on the market, according to a USDA report posted Tuesday (Aug 22) on its Foreign Agricultural Services Web site.

US beef producers would do well to target Shanghai, with a population of 21 million people and one of the highest average per capita incomes in China, according to analysts.

High incomes and a busy lifestyle have caused a ballooning of the number of people dining out. A large population of expatriates and masses of transient tourists add to the potential consumers of US beef in the city's numerous restaurants and hotels.

For example, there are 1,600 western restaurants in Shanghai, most of them using imported beef as quality beef are lacking locally.

However, there are also factors working against imported beef, such as the fact that most Chinese consumers prefer to buy fresh meat instead of frozen meat from wet markets, thus reducing the potential for imports. Most Chinese dishes also do not use beef in the way imports are cut, requiring US processors to adjust or launch re-education campaigns to promote US beef.