Chinese organic food market has 'great potential'

时间：2016-01-06

China has Asia's largest organic farming area, 1.4 million hectares, but the market remains largely undeveloped.

The average Chinese spends less than $1 a year on organic foods and beverages, compared with $65 for Americans and $153 for Swiss, according to 2010 figures issued by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, based in Germany.

"That means we really have great potential for development," said Zhou Zejiang, the federation's Asian representative.

Prices for organic foods and beverages can sometimes double or triple those for non-organic products, and sometimes even more.

Yili, the leading manufacturer of milk products in China, put the country's first organic milk product on the market in 2007. The company has more than 20,000 cows to produce organic milk.

"Our products are far from enough to satisfy domestic consumers'demand for organic milk," Jin Biao, vice president of Yili Group, said.