Li Shijing, deputy director of the Beijing Food Industry Association, said only 5,000 food companies in Beijing will be able to survive the intensive competition from overseas food giants that will flock into the domestic market after China joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Foreign food products occupy almost half of the Beijing market in terms of sales. Imports include milk, chewing gum, chocolate, flour and ice cream, Li was quoted as saying by today's China Daily.

Of the top 10 selling food products in Beijing, over three fourths have foreign names, he said.

Compared with imported food products, Chinese-made food products are uncompetitive as a result of their poor quality, packaging and marketing.

"Our food companies are on relatively small scales and find it hard to compete with overseas giants," he said.

China's food industry had turnover of about US$80 billion in 1999, only one-fourth of that of the US food industry, Li said.

With China's impending entry into WTO, the restructuring of China's food industry is inevitable. Most small companies without specialized products will be eliminated from the market, he predicted.

China has enormous potential in the sector as the strong purchasing power of its massive population still remains largely dormant. Experts believed Beijing could double its food retail sales to 100 billion yuan by 2010.

(Xinhua 10/31/2000)