What are the new characteristics of China's agricultural food product trade since the COVID-19 ?

At the beginning of 2020, the novel corona-virus raged and quickly swept across the world, bringing a huge impact on all walks of life. According to data released by the United Nations, the global trade in goods in 2020 fell by 5.6% year-on-year. However, according to China Customs data, our country's agricultural trade volume in 2020 is 246.8 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 8% year-on-year. Under the influence of the new epidemic, China's agricultural product trade has not declined but increased. What are the new characteristics of China's agricultural food product consumption and trade?

1.Convenient food sales are gaining momentum

In recent years, as the pace of life has accelerated and the consumption structure has been upgraded, convenience food has ushered in a transformation and upgrading. The COVID-19 has accelerated this transformation process, causing the industry to show explosive growth.

In this epidemic, many countries require citizens to avoid going out as much as possible and stay at home, making convenience foods that are individually packaged, easy to cook and have a long shelf life very popular.

Self-heating fast food represented by instant hot pot, instant porridge and instant rice are the most sought-after in the market. It is convenient and fast, while taking into account nutrition and flavor and can meet the needs of consumers' taste buds. According to the Foresight Industry Research Institute, the market for self-heating food in my country will reach 4.2 billion yuan in 2020. In 2020, the sales of "Double Eleven" self-heating pot broke 1 billion, an increase of 37.5% year-on-year; the annual revenue of Kaixiaozao series of self-heating rice realized a multiple increase in 2020 and the annual revenue exceeded 300 million yuan, an increase of 628% year-on-year.

When it comes to convenience food, we have to mention the hottest product in 2020- river snails rice noodle. In 2020, Liuzhou river snails rice noodle blew out. The production and sales of bagged Liuzhou river snails rice noodle reached 10.6 billion yuan, with a daily output of up to 3.25 million bags, an increase of 68.8% over the previous year. The unique Liuzhou river snails rice noodles are also popular in overseas markets. The products are exported to more than 20 countries and regions overseas. The main import countries include the United States, Canada, Singapore, etc. The export volume is 35 times the total of export volume in 2019.

2.Overseas acceptance of Chinese condiments has increased

According to statistics from iiMedia Consulting, the market size of China's condiment industry in 2020 reached 395 billion yuan. The epidemic has shifted the food portion of catering consumption to home cooking, thereby stimulating consumer demand for condiments from home users.

For consumers around the world, home-made meals have made condiments a rigid household need, which gives Chinese condiments an opportunity to make a big splash in overseas markets. According to the statistics of Alibaba International Station, the average daily unique visitors of Chinese condiments in April 2020 increased by 96.5% year-on-year. Well-known domestic condiments represented by Fuling mustard and Laoganma chili sauce are popular in overseas markets. According to statistics, in 2020, Laoganma chili sauce sales revenue was 5.4 billion yuan, an increase of more than 300 million yuan compared with 2019, an increase of 7% year-on-year and it was exported to more than 30 countries, mainly the United States, Thailand, the Philippines, India etc. In 2020, Fuling mustard operating income was 2.273 billion yuan, an increase of 14.2% year-on-year and the total export volume was 23.8 million yuan, an increase of 54.3% year-on-year, mainly exported to more than 50 countries and regions including Japan, the United States, South Korea, Canada and Malaysia. It can be seen that condiments with Chinese characteristics are very popular in overseas markets.

3.The market for nutritious and healthy food is rising

With the COVID-19 sweeping the world, people are paying more and more attention to health topics and foods with the characteristics of nutrition, health, physical fitness and disease prevention have become popular.

The big data on food consumption of the Chinese Nutrition Society showed that in 2020, consumers' consumption of meat, egg, milk and soy foods increased to varying degrees compared with the same period of the previous year. For example, the consumption of dairy products increased by 8%, of which liquid milk increased by 16% year-on-year, a record high in the past 15 years; consumption of organic beans increased by 4-6 times year-on-year.

Secondly, the consumption of health food has also been rising. In 2020, our country imported 4.81 billion US dollars of nutrition and health food, a year-on-year increase of 23.9% and exports amounted to US$ 2.18 billion, an increase of 11% year-on-year, both hitting record highs.

 

In addition, nuts, the processed snacks that have been labeled as healthy, have also ushered in the industry. After the outbreak, the global market's demand for nut foods has increased significantly. According to China's Customs data, China's exports of fresh and dried fruits and nuts reached US$6.8 billion in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%. Take Qiaqia Foods as an example. In 2020, overseas business  achieved annual operating revenue of 471 million yuan, an increase of 46.4% year-on-year and the proportion of operating revenue increased from 6.7% to 8.9%. Products are exported to Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and the United States. , South Korea and more than 40 countries and regions. It can be seen that in the post-epidemic era, the nut market is hot and demand for related products is strong.