Price and income elasticities are estimated for ten major food groups across low-, medium‐, and high‐income classes, using the 2004 China urban household survey data for Jiangsu province. Demand parameters are estimated using an incomplete demand system (the LinQuad model). Results of this study show that for the majority of the studied food categories, the demand for the low‐income group is found to be more income and own‐price elastic; while the demand for the high‐income group is found to be less income and own‐price elastic. Therefore, the null hypothesis of constant price and income elasticities of demand is rejected in this study. [EconLit citations: D120, R220, Q180]. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A complete demand system is estimated separately for urban and rural residents using a two-stage almost ideal demand system-quadratic almost ideal demand system model and pooled provincial and time-series data from 2000 to 2012. The estimated demand elasticities with respect to income and demographic variables are then used to predict the changes in the structure of food demand in China for the year 2030. Results of this study suggest that, as per capita incomes grow further while both urbanization and population aging continue their upward trends, the shares of expenditures on foods away from home are expected to rise while the shares of spending on foods at home would decline, and that at-home food budget shares of grains are expected to continue decreasing whereas athome food budget shares of foods with animal origins and fruits would be on the rise. Thus, food security in China has been transformed into feed grain security. K E Y W O R D S demographic change, food demand in China, income growth, urbanization J E L C O D E S C33, D12, Q18

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PurposeThis study estimates the income elasticities of calorie, macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein and fat) and key micronutrients including cholesterol, vitamin A, vitamin C, sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc and insoluble fiber separately for urban and rural adults aged 18–60, using China Health and Nutrition Survey data set from 2004 to 2011.Design/methodology/approachA semiparametric model, a two-way fixed-effects model and a quantile regression approach are employed to estimate nutrient–income elasticities.FindingsThe income elasticities of calorie, protein, fat, cholesterol and calcium are in the range of 0.059–0.076, 0.059–0.076, 0.090–0.112, 0.134–0.230, 0.183–0.344 and 0.058–0.105, respectively. The income elasticity of each of the other nutrients is less than 0.1. The income elasticities of calorie and the majority of nutrients included are larger for rural residents than for urban residents and for low-income groups than for medium- and high-income groups. Overall, in spite of having a relatively small impact, income growth is shown to still have an impact on improving the nutritional status of Chinese adults.Originality/valueThis study estimates nutrient–income elasticities separately for urban and rural adults, expanding the scope of the study regarding the impact of income on the nutritional status in China. Moreover, this study uses a pooled sample generated from the personal food consumption records covering foods consumed at home and away from home during 2004–2011, which is thus likely to more comprehensively reveal the causal relationship between income growth and changes in the nutritional status in China.

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