China’s imports of fruits such as avocados have surged, with total food imports growing 25 per cent year-on-year in 2017 to reach $58bn. Much of that is comprised of e-commerce purchases of foreign food brands, suggesting multinationals can benefit by bringing their overseas products to China more quickly.

Multinationals “have the premium products, they have the perception of being healthy," said Bruno Lannes, a partner at Bain & Company. “I think the issue is more the speed at which they need to bring innovation to the market.”

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