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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2018, Vol. 17 Issue (06): 1463-1474    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(17)61837-9
Agricultural Economics and Management Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Improve access to the EU market by identifying French consumer preference for fresh fruit from China
WANG Er-peng1, Zhifeng Gao2, 3, Yan Heng 
1 School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, P.R.China
2 College of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, P.R.China
3 Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL 32606, USA
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Abstract  
Most previous studies have investigated country-of-origin effect for agricultural products from the economically developed country, but few have focused on the impact of country-of-origin on agricultural products from economically developing countries.  Using a national online survey in France, we determine French consumers’ perceptions and preferences for fresh fruit from China.  Results of ordered logit models show that fresh fruit from China was perceived as low quality and unsafe.  Respondents who care about country-of-origin were less likely to purchase fresh fruit from China, while those who care about brand were more likely to buy Chinese fresh fruit.  Risk perception and quality perception both had a significant impact on the purchase of Chinese fresh fruit.  Results of latent class models obtained with key consumer demographics show that heterogeneous preferences exist among different consumer groups.  The results provide critical information to both China and other economically developing countries in their efforts to improve market penetration in economically developed countries.
 
Keywords:  country of origin        perception        consumer preference        fresh fruit        China  
Received: 14 August 2017   Accepted:
Fund: This work is/was supported by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (Hatch project FLA-FRE-005292). This research is also supported by the China Scholarship Council, the Humanities and Social Science Fund of the Ministry of Education of China (13YJC790138), the Jiangsu University Philosophy and Social Science Fund, China (2017SJB0191).
Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence Zhifeng Gao, E-mail: zfgao@ufl.edu    

Cite this article: 

WANG Er-peng, Zhifeng Gao, Yan Heng. 2018. Improve access to the EU market by identifying French consumer preference for fresh fruit from China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17(06): 1463-1474.

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