Ready Meals in China

This report covers the market for ready meals in China, including canned, chilled and frozen ready meals, ready meal market trends, retail sales, market share, pricing, forecasts to 2007, current issues and leading company profiles.
Historically, ready meal sales have been restricted by the lack of widespread ownership of freezers, and the common habit of buying fresh produce on a daily basis, rather than buying weekly and storing at home for later use. The arrival of the fast-food chains, western-style supermarkets, greater awareness of frozen foods and the emergence of a generation both willing and able to try new products has meant that the market for ready meals have made great strides in China. The increasingly busy lifestyles of urban Chinese in particular have led to an increased demand for convenience foods, such as ready meals. Also, and increasing number of people are finding it difficult to go shopping for food each day, and so more people are now buying foods for use another day, leading to an increased acceptance of ready meal use.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

CHAPTER 1 Market Overview 6
1.1 Market Definition 6
1.2 Research Highlights 6
1.3 Market Analysis 7

CHAPTER 2 Market Value 8

CHAPTER 3 Market Segmentation I 9

CHAPTER 4 Market Segmentation II 10

CHAPTER 5 Competitive Landscape 11

CHAPTER 6 Leading Companies 12
6.1 Nestle S.A. 12
6.2 Unilever 12
6.3 Kraft Foods, Inc. 12

CHAPTER 7 Market Forecasts 13
7.1 Market Value Forecast 13

CHAPTER 8 Demographics 14

CHAPTER 9 Further Reading 16
9.1 Sources 16
9.2 Related Datamonitor Research 16

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: China Ready Meals Market Value: $ billion, 1999-2003 8
Table 2: China Ready Meals Market Segmentation I: % Share, by Value, 2003 9
Table 3: China Ready Meals Market Segmentation II: % Share, by Value, 2003 10
Table 4: China Ready Meals Market Value Forecast: $ billion, 2003-2008 13
Table 5: China Size of Population (million) , 1999-2003 15
Table 6: China GDP (1995=100), 1999-2003 15
Table 7: China Inflation, 1999-2003 15
Table 8: China Exchange Rate, 1999 16