113 Million: The Number of Cows that China is Home To

In the lead-up to our 2018 Beijing Burger Festival on Jun 16-17 at Galaxy Soho, we've scoured the city for the best, tastiest, and most original patties and beef on offer to whet your appetite prior to the veritable meat fest ahead. Dig in!

China's 113 million cows only provide around 70 percent of beef eaten domestically. The remainder is made up of imports from locales like Brazil, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina. Meanwhile, as Chinese living standards improve, and the popularity of Western food continues to rise, pork’s margin as the country’s preferred meat is beginning to slip as more consumers reach for higher-end, leaner cuts like beef.

Indeed, China’s pork consumption has witnessed a trending decline over the past three years. In contrast, farmers upped their number of cattle by 61 million from 1978 to 2013 as a means to keep up with the demand for beef. What’s fascinating is that the majority of that beef still comes from small farms that slaughter fewer than nine cows per year but are responsible for over 50 percent of China’s beef industry. To compound the domestic shortage, 90 percent of local beef comes from indigenous yellow cattle, which only yield 50 percent of meat when compared to some foreign breeds.

Add that to the fact that Western fast-food restaurants continue to boom across China - with McDonald’s alone opening 10 new restaurants every week on average - as well as quality standards issues, and it’s clear that the country has a long way to go before it can finally rely on its own cull.