China is now the world's biggest food and grocery retail market, overtaking the US, according to new research published today (3 April) by UK-based grocery expert IGD.
China's grocery sector was valued at US$972bn at the end of 2011, while the US market was worth US$916bn, IGD said.
The Chinese market is forecast to grow in value to US$1.5tn by 2015, compared to US$1.08tn in the US.
'Between 2011 and 2015, the US grocery retail market should see growth accelerating to reach a compound annual growth rate of 4.2 per cent, but China's rate will double this at 10.9 per cent over the same period,' IGD said in a statement.
All BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations rank in the top five grocery markets by 2015, with India displacing Japan as the world's third largest grocery market by value, the report said.
IGD chief executive Joanne Denney-Finch commented: 'China's grocery growth story is phenomenal. Between 2006 and 2015, the Chinese grocery market is forecast to triple in value. This rapid expansion has been fuelled by three main factors: rapid economic growth, population and rising food inflation.
'Despite its various logistical and bureaucratic challenges, China is a crucial growth market for many of the world's largest grocery retailers,' she added. 'Even beyond the major cities there are huge opportunities: forecasts suggest there will be over 200 Chinese cities with a population over a million people by 2025.'
