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Page added on October 14, 2015
China Continues to Eat More and More Meat—and That Matters for Everyone
As the world’s most populous country, China consumes a lot of food. As an emerging economic powerhouse, even despite recent financial woes, China consumes a lot of food in greater quantities than it did three or four decade ago—meat, in particular. And with a growing population and a growing middle class, the demand for meat in China is expected to continue to rise. As a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers posits, it “will place enormous burdens on an already challenged domestic food system and have significant ramification on international trade in agriculture.”
The report, released Monday, is mainly concerned with the economic effects of China’s changing diet, but the rise of meat consumption—and increasing dependence on imported animal feed required to meet that demand—are tied up in global land use, resources, and climate change too. While estimates vary, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization attributes 14.5 percent of global emissions to the world’s livestock farms. As the report notes, China feeds 20 percent of the world’s population but only has 8 percent of the world’s arable land, which means that when the Chinese diet changes, the echoes will be felt beyond the country’s borders.
Much has been made of the rise in that nation of meat consumption, which went from representing just 125 calories of the daily diet in 1971 to representing 691 in 2011. Between 2003 and 2013, consumption jumped by nearly 25 percent, and raising more hogs, far and away the livestock of choice in China, means buying more feed—both activities have a significant carbon footprint. But the PWC report points out something important in the broader conversation about meat consumption and its environmental woes: Even with the rapidly increasing appetite for meat, the average Chinese person still eats less meat than the average American. In 2015, Chinese residents will eat about 130 pounds of meat annually, while people in the U.S. will eat more than 230 pounds per person per year.
“It could be justifiably argued,” the report reads, “that the American number reflects excessive levels of consumption and that China is unlikely to ever reach those peaks.” Instead, the authors expect China to peak at 165 pounds per person per year, which is the amount eaten in Taiwan. If it were to hit that level of consumption immediately, “almost the entire expected corn output of Brazil and Argentina in 2014” would be required to feed the animals.
Already, China is irrigating more of its own farmland, trying to buy up arable land elsewhere in the world, and becoming an outsized player in the global commodity crop market—all of this from a country that has a long-standing policy of being agriculturally self-sufficient.
While it is far from the worst offender when it comes to having an unsustainable diet—again, Americans can claim that honor—the sheer scale of its population makes China’s changing diet a global concern.
13 Comments on "China Continues to Eat More and More Meat—and That Matters for Everyone"
Davy on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 6:55 am
Americans are going to eat less very soon. We are in a fossil fuel consumption overshoot and that will end in a few short years per peak oil dynamics. The US has the ability to feed itself in the coming descent for a time. China and Asia do not. They are tragically exposed to any kind of reduction in their food chain. They have destroyed their land/water, forests, and fisheries in the name of quick development with a corresponding high population growth. That is the worst of both worlds. They were once an example of sustainability on multiple levels. Now Asia is the number one killer of the planet with 4.5Bil people consuming more and wanting more. A huge die off is coming to Asia. The numbers do not lie. You can’t bend these kind of numbers.
The US will suffer but much less in this respect at least in the beginning of the descent. We need to shed 200Mil people in the next generation. Asia needs to shed 3.5Bil people. Folks did you just read that yes 3.5Bil people must be gone from Asia in a generation. That is optimistic number too. Say what you want about your per capita bullshit. We are so far into extremes that per capita is hysterical. Trying to say per capita is fair is like saying a seat in the back of the deadly train wreck coming is fair. Who cares about fairness when you are at the point of no return? “Two percent of nothin is still nothin” what does that mean? That means the numbers are irrelevant when you go that far into overshoot of carrying capacity. Asia is a dead man walking and that means the global world is dead too. We are in this together so get off your ass and prepare for a shit storm. This was brought to us by the West and the East ended it.
James Tipper on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 11:07 am
I’ve got to eat all the chicken, beef, and pork now before it’s gone! Before it’s either too expensive or is inaccessible.
joe on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 11:29 am
China has the world’s biggest middle class.
http://qz.com/523626/chinas-middle-class-has-overtaken-the-uss-to-become-the-worlds-largest/
BC on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 2:22 pm
China and the rest of Asia increasing meat consumption as a share of food consumption is a global disaster.
China will have to import more food and oil to sustain the consumption and domestic industrial ag to feed livestock AND people. The increasing food and energy imports with US and Japanese FDI contracting causing China’s imports to contract will cut GDP by nearly half when the potential real GDP per capita is implied to be ~0% (as in the US, EZ, and Japan since 2007-08).
Unless the Chinese repeat their historical tendency to turn inward every 50-60 years, this means US-China war (and proxies).
Apneaman on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 2:42 pm
China. They’re like Canadian and American consumer zombies on steroids. No wonder we hate them. It was our job to pollute and consumer the species to death, not theirs- fuckers.
Rodster on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 6:32 pm
This is precisely why destroying 60% of their clean water matters. It’s a bitch trying to irrigate their farmland with water that’s not fit for human contact. China is its own worst enemy.
makati1 on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:25 pm
Ap, thanks for the chuckle! Me thinks too many here read and believe the America propaganda about Russia and China. Their loss.
Meat (Beef/veal) consumption per capita: 2014
Argentina 41.2 Kilos/person
US 23.98 Kilos
Russia 13.08 Kilos
China <7.5 kilos
Ps 3.23 Kilos
India 0.77 Kilos
http://chartsbin.com/view/35640
Boat on Wed, 14th Oct 2015 9:38 pm
Don’t forget cigarettes. Americans make a ton of money globally.
makati1 on Thu, 15th Oct 2015 7:34 am
Boat, you are correct. For instance, a pack of 20 unfiltered Marlboros here costs about $1. You can even buy one at a time from street vendors for 5 Pesos or about $0.08 if you cannot afford a pack. Smoking is almost as common as cell phones. Glad I never started that habit.
Davy on Thu, 15th Oct 2015 8:28 am
Smoking is another Asian past time killing off her population along with the worst air on the planet.
Rodster on Thu, 15th Oct 2015 11:16 am
You don’t need to smoke in China, all you have to do is breathe that shit air with all kinds of pollutants trapped in the air.
Kenz300 on Fri, 16th Oct 2015 6:57 am
The worlds worst environmental problem is OVER POPULATION. The world adds 80 million more people to feed, clothe, house and provide water and energy for every year. This is unsustainable.
Birth Control Permanent Methods: Learn About Effectiveness
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/birth_control_permanent_methods/article_em.htm
Kenz300 on Fri, 16th Oct 2015 6:59 am
Even the OIL companies can see the handwriting on the wall………..
Oil and Gas Companies Make Statement in Support of U.N. Climate Goals – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/business/energy-environment/oil-companies-climate-change-un.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-2&action=click&contentCollection=International%20Business®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article