For example, in 2010, the Chinese consumed an average of 4.87 kilograms of beef and 3.01 kg of mutton, both up 12 percent from 2005, according to the NDRC. The agency forecast that by 2015, the numbers will rise to 5.19 kg and 3.23 kg, respectively.

Average annual per capita beef consumption in developed countries is 50 kg. The striking gap signals huge potential.

Additionally, a growing number of middle-class and affluent Chinese are buying imported meat online, partly due to growing concern over the country's food safety.

E-commerce company Yhd, which is majority-owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, told China Daily it now sells beef and mutton under its own brand, as well as cuts from other suppliers.

Under its own brand, it sells beef from Australia and New Zealand to consumers in Beijing and Shanghai. Sales have been growing 100 to 150 percent each month. For other suppliers, monthly sales have been growing about 220 percent, it said.

Sfbest, an online food supermarket owned by SF Express (Group) Co, told China Daily that it sold 114,075 packages of Australian beef and mutton in November, up 71 percent from October.

However, Pan said that buying imported beef and mutton isn't a mass-market trend. Most ordinary consumers still prefer to buy meat at local markets, where prices are lower.

Domestic beef and mutton prices have great sway over consumers' meat-buying decisions, and the rising local prices have repressed consumer demand, she added.

Assuming that's true, it means pent-up demand for beef and mutton will be unleashed once cheap products are available. And that means lasting opportunities for Australia, Uruguay, New Zealand, Canada and Argentina, the five biggest beef exporters to China.

For Australia, China is already its third-largest export destination after the US and Japan.

Countries that are still on China's import ban list have high hopes as restrictions are scrapped.

Joel Haggard, senior vice-president of the Asia-Pacific region for the United States Meat Export Federation, wrote in a December article: "The United States is well-suited to produce and ship large volumes of specific cuts that will form the core of China's high-quality beef demand.

"On the other hand, the absence of US product from the market creates hurdles for re-entry.

"But the rewards should be large, if these challenges can be overcome. With unfettered access, China is poised to gain a place in the top five US beef export destinations, along with Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Canada."

Analysts said lured by the prospect, more mergers and acquisitions among Chinese and foreign processors will take place.

For example, Chinese pork giant Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd (now known as WH Group Ltd) last year bought US-based Smithfield Foods Inc for $4.7 billion.