China retail

IGD, the international food and grocery market analyst, has revealed in a new report that it is expecting China to overtake the US as the world's largest grocery market over the course of the next four years.

According to a forecast put together by the group entitled '10 for 2010', China's grocery market is set to grow to a value of €761bn by 2014, ahead of the US which is set to be worth €745bn. Currently, the US leads the way with a market value of €638bn, with China in second place on €529bn.

The reasons for the possible change include the hit that the US has taken through the economic crisis, higher investment and consumer spend in China, and China's population growth rate, IGD said.

India is also expected to move up in the rankings, with the forecast predicting that it will swap places with Japan to move to third place on €448bn (currently €279bn), while Russia is expected to move into fifth place by 2014 with a market value of €322bn (currently €186bn).

Brazil is set to move up one place on the list to sixth, according to IGD, with market value growth to €284bn from €185bn this year.

Of the major European markets, France is set to slip from fifth to seventh place on the list (estimated at €228bn in 2014), with the UK (€198bn from €170bn) and Germany (€168bn from €160bn) remaining in eighth and ninth places respectively.

Italy, however, is forecast to drop out of the top ten, with IGD predicting that Indonesia (€167bn) will appear in the rankings instead in 2014.