Every single day, more than 7 million people who live in Hong Kong need to eat.
24 hours, the city consumes more than 900 tons of rice, 2,000 tons of vegetables, 35 tons of poultry, around 4,300 pigs and 80 cows. Supermarkets, restaurants, cafes and street markets all are part of a complex and reliable food chain, feeding the hungry citizens of Hong Kong.
Its restaurants are among the world’s best, and home to a growing array of celebrity chefs who are flocking to this urban epicenter.
The only problem here is that Hong Kong is dangerously dependent on imports.
Partly fueled by the city’s cosmopolitan tastes, partly fueled by its impressively capacious trading ports, over 90 percent of Hong Kong’s total food supply is imported.
The top nations that feed this city include Thailand, Brazil, the Philippines the United States and Indonesia, but none can compare to the city’s behemoth supplier: Mainland China.
Statistics indicate that more than 90% of Hong Kong’s fresh pork and 100% of fresh beef hail from the mainland. China also accounts for 92% of Hong Kong’s fresh vegetables and 97% of its live freshwater fish.
Beside from fresh food, Hong Kong also imports chilled and frozen food from many other countries (chilled and frozen pork and beef from Brazil, salmon from Norway, and fruits from the Philippines and Thailand,etc) in order to maintain a stable supply.
However, the belief that China will remain as the cheap alternative is slowly fading away. Rising food prices and the rapid devaluation of the Hong Kong dollar mean that the reality of affordable food is quickly slipping away.
