The Xinghua Economic Development Zone – located in Xinghua city in East China's Jiangsu province – is pushing hard to expand aggressively into the prepared food market in China.
This category of food was listed in this year's No 1 Central Document – the policy statement released annually by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet.
In terms of pickled fish prepared food, Changpai Food (Jiangsu) Co Ltd is a top manufacturer in its field. "More than half of the top ten chain brands of pickled fish in China are our partners," said company manager Shen Chunhua. In the first quarter, its sales increased by 45 percent year-on-year.
Elsewhere, Yao Family (Jiangsu) Food Technology Co Ltd's intelligent product machine can cook more than 30 dishes using prepared food.
The product has been developed over the course of two years and is being promoted at universities and scenic spots, among others, in a push for the company to achieve annual sales of over 100 million yuan ($14.61 million).
The intelligent cooking machine made by Yao Family (Jiangsu) Food Technology Co Ltd. [Photo/jnews.xhby.net]
Xinghua EDZ official Zhu Guirong said that the zone was moving fast to establish a prepared food industrial alliance, with the cooperation of universities and research institutes.
For bulk commodities such as sugar and salt, the alliance will conduct a united procurement system to help enterprises cut production costs.
One manufacturer based in the zone – Weifengde Food Technology Co Ltd – offers a range of nearly 30 types of crab products.
"Xinghua is renowned for crab breeding in China, providing a large quantity of high-quality crabs for our products," said company director Chen Hua.
Overall statistics showed that the scale of the prepared food market in China reached 419.6 billion yuan last year, and the market size is expected to top 1 trillion yuan by 2026.