BEIJING - Wu Ying is determined to have a fancy Christmas in the southern city of Shenzhen this year, including a home-baked Christmas cake with ingredients imported from the United States.
p5 W. m( o! T( W$ L It has been a year since Wu graduated from Purdue University, so she plans to reinforce her memory about the "cheerful and romantic" time by baking a genuine American cake.5 e% \( N# I9 K3 E
Wu, 25, is not the only person eager to pursue a Western lifestyle - or rather, food - in China.
D1 C3 j+ R( R+ J Ourtasty.com, the largest shopping website for imported food in China, has seen a 30 percent increase in orders since early December.
) t$ `4 L. Y- k: Q. K& v( T! r Grace Guo, chief operating officer with the Shanghai-based company, said Belgium chocolates and French wines are its top sellers over Christmas.
# R5 z* C/ W2 v: O% T5 M The company is not only eyeing the booming Christmas market, but also the huge demand for imported food in China.
+ X% |2 i" _- R: _ "Imported food is getting more and more popular in China, with or without Christmas," she said.
[. I" S- q# z k/ u; b Guo said more young Chinese are willing to try exotic foods, as some have concerns about China's food safety record.
, p9 _: `: Z/ m" s When the company began in December 2008, it could get only a dozen orders a day. "But the number of our daily orders has reached 1,000 and our daily turnover is about 250,000 yuan ($37,000)," Guo said.( W) I0 ~6 V! T( w, u* i
The company sells about 3,000 kinds of imported foods, with 60 percent from the US. Compared with its European counterparts, food from the US can be relatively cheap.
+ X+ X8 y1 X" n5 c& n3 {( k Among its top sellers are nuts such as pistachio and sauces from the US, cookies and pasta from Europe and milk powder from New Zealand.
! ^1 }! _2 Z1 o e' r# r "We plan to bring another 7,000 kinds of foreign food to the Chinese market. There is a lot of good stuff out there," Guo said, adding that her company's goal is to have a daily turnover of 600,000 yuan next year.
# C$ E# [( P% u: t" l Lin Wei, founder of China's first imported wholesale food website, said he saw a two-fold growth every year in imported food sales since entering the industry in February 2007.( a! r$ a% Y1 J' G. E J6 n
"China's potential as a food-importing country is vast and it will continue to expand along with the rapid growth of China's middle class," Lin said.- Y+ U* U b3 C+ z1 B
"A 200g package of imported cookies can be priced at 40 yuan while domestic ones usually sell for less than 5 yuan. You can imagine the purchasing power I'm talking about." |