Meat demand in China: to include or not to include meat away from home?

Abstract

This study examines meat consumption in China, the world's largest meat consumer and producer, by considering both meat consumed at home and away from home based upon a diary-based household survey. The results indicate that income growth leads to beef, poultry, other meat and pork away from home consumption to grow more than proportionally to total meat consumption. We also find that meats consumed away from home grow faster than at home counterparts due to higher income elasticities, suggesting that ignoring meat away from home could significantly underestimate current and future meat consumption.