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Abstract
China’s sustained rapid economic growth and development has contributed to the surge
in consumption and production of livestock in that country termed the livestock
revolution. Consumption trends are first reviewed, and changes in food consumption
patterns include a marked shift away from grains and towards meats and dairy products.
A question is to what extent this rapid increase in demand for livestock products is
reflected in China’s agri-food trade statistics? While her agri-food imports have dramatically
increased since China’s accession to the WTO, livestock products have not made
a noticeable contribution, although the import of certain animal feedstuffs has. This
implies China’s continuing self-sufficiency in most livestock products. The paper next
considers developments in China’s livestock farming sector and policies that have
been contributing to these supply-side developments. The paper concludes with an
examina-tion of issues that may be important to the future development of China’s, and
the world’s, livestock situation; this includes future demand developments, and the
question of whether future demand growth in China might be met with local production,
imports of final product, and/or imports of feedstuffs.