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Abstract
China has experienced rapid economic growth in the past three decades. This has resulted in
a sustained increase in consumer income, which in turn has led to changes in the patterns
and quantities of food consumed. In this study recent trends in food consumption in China
over 2000-2010 are examined. Demand has been increasing for a diverse range of foods and
for foods of higher quality than traditionally has been supplied. Constrained by limited and
sometimes degraded agricultural resources, China will be unable to meet fully the increasing,
and changing, demand for foods. However, while the food import needs of China will be
significant in the longer term, the evidence of this study suggests the food import needs of
China until 2020 will be relatively small. Realistic, though relatively constrained, prospects for
increased food trade between Australia and China are outlined.