Laiyang, a county-level city in East China's Shandong province, has been awarded the title of "China's First Prefabricated Food City" by the China Vegetable Marketing Association.

The recognition is a significant milestone for Laiyang's prefabricated food industry and highlights its contributions to promoting agricultural modernization and rural vitalization. On April 15, the city and the association signed a strategic cooperative agreement with the hopes of achieving greater success in the industry.

This accolade has also provided a boost to the confidence of the local prepared food industry and helped promote the "Laiyang Flavor" public brand.

Laiyang's prefabricated food industry began in the 1980s when local enterprises started exporting to Japan. The industry has since expanded with a complete supply chain system developed, covering a range of product categories including vegetables, livestock, poultry, aquatic products, and noodles. Key local enterprises in the industry include Longda, Springsnow, and Tianfu.

Currently, the industry has over 200 production enterprises, including 85 enterprises above designated size, two A-share mainboard listed companies, and more than 110 export enterprises. In 2022, the industry generated 8.35 billion yuan ($1.21 billion) in sales revenue, which doubled in a year.

Laiyang has established its own agricultural and order-based standardized planting bases to meet international standards, emphasizing cooperation between companies, farmers, and cooperatives. This approach has helped increase incomes for farmers and promote rural vitalization, while also solidifying Laiyang's position as a national leader in the prefabricated food sector.

Laiyang's deep processing of agricultural and sideline products was recognized by the Consumer Economy Research Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which named it one of the "Top 10 Prefabricated Food Bases" in the country.

In 2022, Springsnow and Longda were listed among the top 50 companies in China's prefabricated food industry, while Luhua and Longda were selected among the top 100 companies in China's food industry. Last year, the Hurun Research Institute recognized Laiyang with three local enterprises among the top 100 China Prefabricated Food Production Enterprises.

Laiyang aims to increase its production capacity to 1.2 million tons and its sales revenue to over 20 billion yuan by 2025.

The city also plans to cultivate a green food industry cluster with a scale of 100 billion yuan and a prefabricated food industry cluster with a scale of 10 billion yuan.