The article first reviews the key characteristics of China’s international trade in
vegetables, and places them in the context of overall world trade in these products. It
also examines changes in China’s overall product export mix between fresh/chilled,
frozen/dried/provisionally-preserved vegetable and processed vegetables and then
assesses changes in the competitiveness of China in world trade for vegetables and the
implications for strategic re-orientation of China’s trade. The article also considers the
degree to which price competitiveness is a primary driver of China’s world export
market shares. Finally some of the key trends within the Chinese vegetable supply
chain and drivers from within the domestic Chinese market are considered. The ability
of China to penetrate many developed country markets further in future years, will
critically depend, inter alia, on developments taking place in its fresh produce supply
chain infrastructure. We briefly assess the future crucial significance for China’s
vegetable export trade potential of foreign direct investment in both the Chinese food
processing sector as well as in its logistics and food retail sectors, together with
associated developments and improvements to food safety legislation and enforcement
within China.