China imported wine market grows(2)
"Many customers choose imported food because it not only meets the safety standard of its country of origin, but also passes the inspection and quarantine in China," he said.
According to the association, the volume of imported dairy products, especially milk powder and fresh milk from Australia and New Zealand, is increasing rapidly in recent years.
"High-end imported foods used to dominate the market years ago. But now we can see imported foods of different levels in the market for different kinds of people," he said.
"The number of domestic customers is growing and half of our customers are Chinese now," said Cheng Chen, who works at the business planning department of City Shop, a supermarket company selling imported products with nine outlets in Shanghai and one in Beijing.
"Our Chinese customers are basically white-collar workers who are pursuing a better quality of life," she said.
Industrial analysts forecast that China will become the world's largest market for imported food by 2018.
