Chinese consumers' perception of imported versus domestic pork quality

Economic globalization has opened up international markets for U.S. food products, especially new markets in emerging economies. While opportunities for increased demand for U.S. pork in China look promising, little is known about this emerging market. The objective of this study is to provide a thorough analysis of Chinese consumer’s perception and attitudes towards multiple pork attributes along with an evaluation of the potential for U.S. pork in China. To achieve this goal, an empirical model is constructed to identify the relationship between Chinese consumer’s pork quality perception and their attitudes towards various pork characteristics, including search, experience, and credence attributes. A system of equations is used to identify differences in consumers’ valuation of pork quality from different countries. The model is applied to survey data from consumers in three major cities in mainland China and Hong Kong, and is estimated using a seemingly unrelated regression estimation method. Our results indicate that food safety is the most important criterion of food quality for both mainland and Hong Kong consumers. The main difference is that, for mainland consumers, food safety is equally important when evaluating domestic and imported pork quality; but Hong Kong consumers are more concerned about food safety issues of domestic pork. Furthermore, we assess the effects of patriotism on consumer perception of food quality and find that they negatively impact mainland consumer’s view of pork from the U.S. Food marketing and agribusiness implications of our findings are discussed.