How Should Fuzhou Break the Constraints of Pre-made Food
In early 2023, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2023 proposed the "cultivation and development of the pre-made food industry." It was the first time that pre-made food was included in the Central Document No.1. Pre-made dishes save both time and efforts as they require little preparation or cooking, making it a trillion-level new track which various regions scramble to enter. In August, three ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Work Plan for Stabilizing the Growth of Light Industry (2023-2024) jointly, which regards pre-made food as one of the new areas of economic growth that need to be fostered. In November, the Three-year Action Plan of Fujian Province for Accelerating the Innovation and Development of New Fujian Cuisine (2023-2025) was released, putting forward specific requirements such as the development of pre-made food industry clusters, cultivation of model enterprises in the pre-made food industry, and building of pre-made food research and development platforms.
Fuzhou is a city born and prospered by the sea. Amid the new round of "Maritime Fuzhou" construction boom, Fuzhou aims at the pre-made food industry. In such regions as Mawei, Fuqing and Lianjiang, enterprises compete to seize the new track and new blue ocean of pre-made food, promoting pre-made food to become a characteristic industry in Fuzhou, and facilitating the building of the international brand "Maritime Fuzhou."
So, what are the advantages of pre-made food in Fuzhou? How should it break the constraints?
A huge pot of Fotiaoqiang attracts the attention of the public. (Photo / Ouyang Jinquan)
Merchants are sorting abalone at the Mingcheng Strait Aquatic Products Trade Center (Photo / Ouyang Jinquan)
Since the beginning of this year, Fuzhou has accelerated its construction of pre-made food projects. CCCC Cold Chain Fuzhou Smart Industrial Park, Zhengfu Cold Chain and Huawei Smart Cold Storage have been put into operation. Hydewin Aquatic Products Deep Processing Project (Phase II) will be put into operation next year, and Yuanhong and Huamin cold chain projects are under construction.
At the First Fujian Aquatic Pre-made Food Industry Development Conference and Fuzhou Fotiaoqiang Cultural Festival 2023, China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance awarded Fuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone (Mawei District, Fuzhou City) a plaque that reads "Capital of Aquatic Pre-made Food in China."
It is reported that Mawei is the largest deep-sea fish catch distribution center in China. It ranks first in the country in terms of the aquatic products trading volume, with a cold storage capacity of 1.99 million cubic meters. Both its cold storage capacity and cold chain logistics distribution capacity are the best in the province. Its annual output value of aquatic processing exceeds 17 billion yuan. It has fostered a group of leading pre-made food enterprises, such as Hydewin, Kunxing, Mingcheng Food, Baixian Food and Minyang, with a sales network extending all over the world.
As an important distribution center for aquatic products trading in China, the Mingcheng Strait Aquatic Products Trading Center has been included in the China's Top 100 Comprehensive Commodity Markets this year. It is the only one in the city and one of the two in the province that are selected. The market gathers seafood from the surrounding fishing ports and other parts of the world. The seafood is shipped out of the port by container cars and sent across the country by cold chain trucks.
How should Fuzhou ride the wave in the pre-made food industry? Mawei gives a firm answer. It will focus on aquatic products, build the whole industrial chain of deep-sea fishing, cold chain, deep processing, transaction logistics, and establish 100-billion-level industrial clusters of aquatic pre-made food.
Now, Fuzhou is focusing on the development of pre-made food industrial bases with aquatic products as the core in Mawei, Lianjiang, Fuqing and other places. According to the plan, by 2025, Fuzhou will build a number of modern agricultural industrial parks and competitive characteristic industry clusters, to create a highland for the development of pre-made food in the country.
Consumers taste pre-made seafood dishes. (Photo / Ouyang Jinquan)
Hydewin’s Fotiaoqiang Production Line (Photo / Ouyang Jinquan)
"It is a general trend to develop pre-made food. The development of aquatic pre-made food in Fuzhou can promote the development of secondary and tertiary industries through the development of the primary industry. It is suggested that government agencies guide enterprises to break the constraints of product similarity and quality problems across the country, and strive to explore the most popular products in more segments," said Fang Ting. Lin Chunbao, General Manager of Fujian Kunxing Food Co., Ltd., believes that Fuzhou has a lot of cold storages and cold chain cars, and these advantages should be brought into full play, so that Fuzhou food can be spread all over the world. (Fuzhou Daily reporter: Ouyang Jinquan; correspondents: Mao Shuwen, Lian Yuling)