China Food & Beverage Industry Overview

As a country with the most population, saying that China’s economy is booming is an understatement. The country’s economy has been booming since it started its economic reforms and began opening up to foreign brands, which also included the food and beverage industry. Today, the future of China’s food and beverage industry looks bright. So, do you want to be part of this success story, or do you want to stand in the sidelines? If you do want to get your piece of the pie, then its time you opted for a WFOE formation and setup in China so that you can expand your reach and significantly increase your business.

Chinese consumer market in food and beverage products continues to be the highest in the world, far beyond that of the United States. In 2014, the top five EU countries exporting China (pre-packaged food, beverages, spirits, vinegar and tobacco) were France, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, and Italy, totaling €1.27 billion, €756 million euros, €441 million euros, €316 million euros and €298 million euros respectively.

One of the reasons for the success of the food and beverage industry is because more and more companies have begun catering to the snack market. With the fast and continuous change of China’s economy, the country has been able to create significant opportunities for WFOE formation and setupthat can be taken advantage of by foreign F&B companies who are looking to make a mark in China. Apart from that, with the rapid growth of China's economy, even the catering industry now occupies a significant portion of China's national economy. The early development of the catering industry, coupled with the tremendous growth that China has enjoyed over the past years has been the main driving force behind the success of Food & Beverage companies that are operating in China.

Taking a look at China’s catering market, it’s easy to see that it is slowly but surely returning to a reasonable level, with capital markets investing in China’s catering industry. This has resulted in the private equity funds of the Hong Yi Investment Fund, CVC, including the Louis Vuitton group all closing in on the Chinese catering industry and have completed a significant amount of investment in the food and beverage industry since 2014.



Seeing the changes in the consumption habits and consumer preferences of the Chinese consumer, China’s catering industry is democratized and diversified, which has been able to attract more international F&B business, which is also why many international businesses are now wanting to go through the China company registration process. Due to the fast development of O2O catering, catering enterprises should adjust their business model and service mode to keep pace with the times.