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21 September 2005
Hong Kong
While it is still unclear whether the outbreak of pig-borne bacteria and the cancer-causing chemical in eels are nearing their end, it is obvious that these food scares have turned Hong Kong families away from consuming pork and fresh water fish at home, according to HomescanTM the ACNielsen consumer panel service that continuously monitors the grocery shopping habits of 1,500 domestic households.
Among all fresh food produce, pork and fish each account for one-fifth of a Hong Kong family’s total household grocery expenditure, valued over the past 12 months at HK$1,316 for pork and $1,245 for fish, closely following fresh vegetables (22% in value share and a total spending of HK$1,390 in the past 12 months).
“Over the past three years since our Homescan continuous tracking has been in place, we have observed that Hong Kong households have been maintaining a stable mix of fresh food for home dining,” said Ms Eva Ng, Associate Director, ACNielsen Consumer Panel Service, Hong Kong.
“Vegetables have topped the list in terms of penetration, shopping frequency and spending among Hong Kong households while Pork and Fish have been the top choices for family cooking among all fresh meat with each recorded a sale of about HK$2.5billion in the latest 12 months up till July 2005.” (See table 1)
With the outbreak of the pig-borne Streptococcus suis bacteria, which has killed or infected dozens of people in both China and Hong Kong, housewives in Hong Kong have shunned pork, resulting in a substantial 25 percent drop in pork purchases over the five consecutives weeks since the outbreak in late July.
Hong Kong people’s skepticism about pork has been further evidenced by the fact that compared with the same period last year, purchase across all types of pork has dropped by as much as 50 percent, be it lean or minced, pork shanks, spare ribs or even the bones - an indispensable ingredient in many Chinese soup recipes. (See Table 2) The total spending on pork in the past August also recorded a drop of 16 percentage points from twelve months ago.
“Freshness is still very much a priority among Hong Kong families, who prefer fresh to frozen food whenever there is a choice, and this preference is even more obvious with pork, where 95 percent of pork sold was fresh,” Ms Ng added.
And just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, the health scare became further fueled by the discovery of tainted eels in mainland China, which very soon lead to the belief that most fresh water fish was tainted with the cancer-causing chemical, malachite green. “The impact of this scare on the purchase of fish has been far more serious than that on the pork. In just three weeks since the news was out, ACNielsen | HomescanTM has seen a 40 percent drop in total fish purchases by Hong Kong families, and double that for fresh water fish,“ continued Ms Ng. (Table 3)
Hong Kong people dropping pork and fish from their dining tables has been seen across almost all types of households of any demographic. Families with younger housewives are among the most discouraged, with 58 percent of them claiming to have bought pork in August, a 13 percentage point decrease from August 2004. Spending on pork has dropped in the range of six percentage points (for medium income groups) to 28 points (for families with children) compared with the same period last year.
With the pork and fresh water fish food scares, Hong Kong people have not hesitated to opt for other ‘safer’ food alternatives. Both canned food and Chicken/poultry have enjoyed a 30 to 40 percent increase in sales in August and the relatively-less consumed beef has also recorded double-digit increases in the same month compared with the same period in 2004. (Table 4).
“Poultry is always in demand, - even during the bird flu crisis 18 months ago,” Ms Ng commented. “We won’t be surprised to see sales of poultry and sea water fish spike in September, and in particular during the past week with the mid-Autumn festival, one of the major Chinese festivals celebrated by Hong Kong families.”
About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a VNU company, is the world’s leading marketing information company. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the company provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen’s market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.
For further information visit http://www.acnielsen.com
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Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
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