China's food industry is transforming, demanding agility from multinational companies:

• China's food industry is being transformed by four mega drivers – biosecurity, sustainability, digitalisation and productivity. For example, now that China's pork sector has largely returned to self-reliance following the African Swine Fever crisis, not only has its demand for pork imports reduced, but the sector is being 'built back better'.

• For those multinationals that benefited from exporting pork to China, the opportunity now is to partner with Chinese pork producers in areas such as breeding and husbandry know-how, animal health and disease control, efficient processing equipment and technology … this is already happening.

• The learnings from the transformation of China's pork sector can be applied to other sectors significant to China's food security. In this article we explore the top-level changes being seen in China's food industry and offer advice for those conducting strategic reviews.

About InterChina Partners

InterChina is a leading strategy, operations and corporate finance boutique specialised in China. Our multinational and Chinese clients choose to work with us because we provide real understanding, deliver practical results, and know how to get things done. We are a partner led firm and distinguish ourselves by the deep level of commitment our partners have in client engagements.

Li Xin

Senior Advisor, Shanghai, Li.Xin@InterChinaPartners.com

Follow on LinkedIn