ABSTRACT
After a hiatus of nearly two decades, the SSB and the MAAF have resumed publication of agricultural production and trade and demographic data. The release of these data have made possible the construction of annual national food balance sheets for China for each of the years 1950-82. These food balance sheets model the production, trade, and utilization of food and estimate the quantities of energy, protein, and fat available in the average Chinese diet. Although some margin of error in the calculations is inevitable, the food balance sheets are nevertheless believed to present reliable estimates of the trends in average per capita nutrient availability since 1950.
