A 2021 report by Shenzhen-headquartered AskCI Consulting shows the #premade meals market in #China stood at around 300 billion yuan ($47 billion), and it could grow into a 1-trillion-yuan market in the next six-seven years.
 
"In the post-#pandemic era, the pace of life has accelerated after the resumption of #offline activities. Meanwhile, it has increased the demand for pre-made meals, as more people like to #savetime, especially in large cities," said Jin Chengwu, a researcher at the Institute of Economics with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
 
Another reason that boosts the pre-made meals market is the development of #coldchain #logistics. In 2020, China's cold chain logistics market grew to over 380 billion yuan, 2.4 times larger than that in 2015. The cold storage capacity stood at 180 million cubic meters, twice the figure in 2015, according to authorities at the economic and trade department of the National Development and Reform Commission.
 
In December 2021, China's State Council approved a development plan to accelerate the construction of a green and smart cold-chain logistics system as part of the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), including the application of smart #sorting equipment, logistics #robots and #temperature monitors.
 
Also, the country's growing "single economy" has been playing a big role in boosting the demand for one-person meals. According to the 2021 China Statistical Yearbook compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics, over 125 million Chinese households had only one person in 2020, accounting for more than a quarter of all 494 million households. The phenomenon stimulates a new consumption trend of "#oneperson food."