Search

The Chinese government has always promoted the pork traceability system; however, expensive traceable pork of limited variety containing single-level safety information cannot meet the differentiated consumer demand of the Chinese market. A survey was conducted of 2,080 consumers in five cities distributed in east, south, southwest, northeast, and central China, in which traceable pork hindquarter profiles were constructed by combining traceable safety information attributes with government certification, appearance, and price. Individual consumers' part-worth utilities were estimated using a choice experiment and hierarchical Bayesian inference. On this basis, combined with ordinary pork hindquarter profiles in the real market, different traceable pork hindquarter profiles were set to develop seven market schemes. Furthermore, market shares of each scheme were simulated using the random first choice method. Most consumers chose appearance rather than safety in the choice experiment, which also indicated that traceable safety information certified by the government had a higher part-worth utility. Simulation results suggested that a larger market share could be better achieved by supplying multilevel traceable pork hindquarters in the market at the same time, rather than by supplying single-level traceable pork hindquarters. Moreover, income was found to be the key factor in determining consumers' demand. Le gouvernement chinois a toujours fait la promotion du système de traçabilité des porcs. Toutefois, les produits traçables, qui sont couteux, peu variés et accompagnés d'un seul niveau d'information sur la salubrité, ne peuvent satisfaire la demande particulière des consommateurs chinois. Un sondage dans lequel figuraient des renseignements sur les quartiers arrière de porcs, dont de l'information sur la salubrité, la certification du gouvernement, l'apparence et le prix, a été réalisé auprès de 2080 consommateurs dans cinq villes situées dans l'est, le sud, le sud-ouest, le nord-est et le centre de la Chine. Nous avons estimé les utilités partielles des consommateurs à l'aide des méthodes des choix discrets et de l'inférence bayésienne hiérarchique. À partir de ces données, combinées à des renseignements sur des quartiers arrière de porcs ordinaires sur le marché réel, nous avons élaboré sept scénarios de marché. Nous avons aussi simulé les parts de marché de chaque scénario à l'aide de la méthode du premier choix aléatoire. Dans la méthode des choix discrets, la plupart des consommateurs ont choisi l'apparence plutôt que la salubrité, ce qui indique que l'information sur la salubrité certifiée par le gouvernement avait une utilité partielle élevée. Les résultats de la simulation autorisent à penser qu'il serait possible de conquérir une plus grande part de marché si les quartiers arrière de porcs étaient accompagnés d'information de plusieurs niveaux en même temps plutôt que d'information d'un seul niveau. D'après nos résultats, le revenu représente le facteur clé dans la détermination de la demande des consommateurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reveal the actual consumer demand for traceable pork by investigating consumer preferences for pork with combined levels of traceability information based on differences in individual consumer preferences, in order to support the government in decision making regarding the gradual construction of safe food markets. Design/methodology/approach – Combinations of four types of traceability information, including farming, slaughter and processing, distribution and sales, and government certification, with price were randomly designed. To identify consumer preferences for these attribute combinations of traceable pork, 215 consumers in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province were investigated using a real choice experiment and the mixed logit model. Findings – Significant heterogeneity was observed in consumer preferences for traceable pork. The information of farming, slaughter and processing, distribution and marketing, and government certification could significantly improve consumer utility. Moreover, consumers had the highest preference for government certification information. Originality/value – Although numerous studies have been performed on consumer preferences for food safety attributes using a real choice experiment, almost none of them focus on Chinese consumers. Therefore, this study is an attempt to fill this gap. The conclusions of this study can serve as a reference for the Chinese government in developing safe food consumption policies. Although Chinese consumers have cried out for improvement of pork safety, they have different preferences for traceability information; thus, the government must promote traceable food step-by-step, using consumer preferences as a starting point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]