The county-level city of Xinghua – administered by Taizhou, in East China's Jiangsu province – is continuing to beef up its efforts to build itself into a 100-billion-yuan food industry cluster, a process it began in recent years.
As part of that drive, the first phase of an ingredient and seasoning research and production center for Jiangsu Dachusibao Food Co Ltd, which has settled in the Xinghua Economic Development Zone, was recently completed and the center started operating on May 4.
The facility is expected to generate annual sales of 600 million yuan ($86.6 million) and pay 35 million yuan in taxes each year, said company general manager Li Xiaoqing.
To date, more than 300 food ingredients companies have moved to the zone and about 470 enterprises have registered with local industry and commerce authorities.
Xinghua is the largest scallion production and dehydrated vegetable processing base in Asia.[Photo/js.people.com.cn]
The annual output value of the city's condiment industry is currently at about 30 billion yuan, accounting for 18 percent of the country's total.
To further expand the industry, Xinghua is helping businesses to reduce their costs by offering space rent-free for the first three years and it has launched a 300-million-yuan development fund. It has also built an innovation base and a research institute with the China National Food Industry Association and China Agricultural University, respectively.
Chen Fengjian, Party chief of Xinghua, said the city would focus on developing itself into an industrial cluster for heath food and promote its signature food ingredients to get them onto more dining tables.