Consumption Research In Rural Residents' Main Animal Food

The income of both urban and rural residents in China has been increasing greatly since the economic system reform in 1978, especially after the transformation of Socialism Market Economy in 1995. Meanwhile, the level and structure of their consumption have undergone fundamental changes. But the food expenditure is still the most important component in their daily lives, according to Engle's coefficients. The consumption share of different food in total food expenditure has also changed continuously, not only the staple food but also the animal food. Analyzing of these major impacting factors, we can understand the coming trends of the rural residents'animal food consumption, find the potential consumption demand, explore the rural consumption market and enhance the rural residents'purchasing power.This paper used the data of Shandong province from 1995 to 2006, and studied on the following three specific contents: Discussing the changes both in the total amount and structure of animal food consumption in Shandong province;Analyzing the main possible factors that affected the animal food consumption in rural area;Developing a systematical modeling frameworks and demand system for animal food study to analyze the influence quantitatively. In order to analyze the impact of various factors on consumption for animal foods, the two-phase models of demand systems have been developed, which are the total Consumption Expenditure Model, and Animal Food Demand System Model.The result of the research indicates that the net income level, the consumption level, the household scale, the main labor's education time and age have impacted the demand of animal food consumption remarkably. With the income and consumption growth of the rural residents, they will increase all kinds of animal food consumption but in different extents. More pork and fish will be consumed. With the degree increase of the education, the rural residents will pay more attention to the structure and nutrition of food, so they will eat more food with high protein, thus milk and fish will be preferred. With the enlarging of the household scale, rural residents will reduce their pork consumption but increase other animal food consumption, such as poultry and beef. For the age, the middle level family consumed more poultry, while the other types consumed more milk and egg.At the end of this study, some further thinking on rural residents'consumption and their purchasing power were put forward. We should establish the life risk and garantee system for rural residents, and try to explore the rural consumption market, so that the demand and purchasing power can be enhanced. It is essential to improve rural residents'income and put the education investment in high priority, by which the whole quality of the rural household can be impoved.