China: Export Market Prospects and Alberta's Agriculture Sector

The emergence of China as one of the world’s largest potential markets has led to this nation becoming the focus of increasing attention for economists, marketers and politicians. Reflecting anticipations of China’s expected role as the world’s future largest market for food, this paper focuses on the identification of opportunities and constraints to Alberta’s expansion of agricultural-based exports to China. The analysis is based on: collection and assessment of data relating to China’s importation of these agri-food products during the five year period from 2001 to 2005; analysis based on export values and market shares of Alberta and major competitors; overviews of some relevant literature; and insights from interviews with a small number of selected, knowledgeable North American exporters.