Growing in the field, cultivating the market

Northeastern province consolidates businesses, hones its skills to become recognized as premier producer of the staple food, Dong Jidong and Liu Mingtai report.

Northeast China's Jilin province, one of the major grain-producing regions in the country, has taken steps to promote its rice brands over recent years.

The rice plantation area in the province totals 800,000 hectares, and the annual output of rice stands at 6 million metric tons, according to the province's grain department.

"Jilin's rice industry features three advantages - high-quality rice varieties, an ideal geographical location and strong capabilities in production and processing," said Yang Guang, deputy chief of the Jilin grain department, at an agricultural summit held on the sidelines of the Changchun Agriculture and Food Expo in August.

The province is located at 40-46 degrees north latitude, widely recognized as the premium region for grain plantation, Yang said. The fertile black soil and irrigation of the rivers of Songhua and Liaohe also contribute to the rice's high quality, he said.

In March last year, President Xi Jinping praised Jilin rice as the top brand, speaking highly of its taste and quality during the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top legislature and political advisory bodies.

However, the province's rice industry used to suffer from thorny issues of low prices and low processing capability. Jilin lagged behind neighboring provinces in building its own brands and merging its rice processing enterprises, according to industry insiders.

Heilongjiang, another province in Northeast China, started to integrate its rice-related resources and brands in 2001, while Jilin began doing that in 2014.

There used to be more than 900 rice brands in Jilin, and most of its rice processing enterprises were small and scattered throughout the province.

In 2014, the province started to cultivate brands of geographical indication and restructured its rice processing industry.

To date, seven rice brands in Jilin, including Meihe and Wanchang, have been named National Protected Geographical Indication Products. Nine others, including Jiangjiadian, Huinan and Xijiang, have gained geographical indication status. The province has also established an industrial alliance for rice producers, which is comprised of 33 enterprises, including 26 rice-producing enterprises, three distributors and one e-commerce platform.

In July last year, when Xi visited Jilin, he checked the crops' growth in the paddy fields and urged the province to make its rice brands better known so that farmers could increase their income. As a result, the provincial grain department set a goal of making the Jilin rice a name card of the province and accelerated efforts to build up its rice brands.

Jilin has stepped up promotion of its rice products since 2014. The provincial government branded all of its rice products under one overarching name, Jilin Rice, in order to expand its market share and launched promotional campaigns in major distribution regions throughout the country.

The province has also worked out a quality standard for its rice products and established a quality-traceability system to improve the credibility of its enterprises.

Contact the writers through dongjidong@chinadaily.com.cn

Building and promoting an empire

Last year, Jilin province worked out a five-year plan to build up its rice brands, which created the goals of cultivating the overarching brand of Jilin Rice and building a provincial industrial alliance. The plan will also set up an internet portal, www.jldmw.com, establish a comprehensive quality standard system and sell the products through chain stores and counters at shopping malls and supermarkets.

Twenty-seven rice producing enterprises in the eastern, central and western areas of the province have joined the alliance. The alliance has issued processing standards for four varieties of rice, setting a higher bar than the national industrial standards.

Jilin has adopted a range of innovative online and offline marketing channels to expand its share in the rice market around the country. The province has established long-term sales cooperation agreements with a variety of regions, including Beijing, Shanghai and the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Yunnan.

This year, Jilin plans to step up promotion of its rice products to make Jilin Rice a well-known brand around the country in three to five years. The move is expected to improve brand recognition among mid - and high-end consumers and help with upgrading and restructuring the province's rice industry, according to the provincial government. The farmers' income will also be increased, according to the plan.

A number of rice producing enterprises in Jilin have expanded their operations to meet the surging demand.

In Wanchang township, a major grain-producing base in central Jilin, the Yufeng Rice Co has integrated agritourism, greenhouse cultivation of vegetables and logistics with its main business of rice production and processing.

In the city of Songyuan, SYFCO Corp has developed a total of 360 varieties of products under its brand Chaganhu. With its own grain production base, the company has established a quality-traceability system that can ensure food safety from the paddy fields to the retail stores, said Miao Fengxiang, deputy general manager of the company.

China Daily

Northeast China's Jilin province is recognized as a premium region for grain plantation. Provided To China Daily

Chaganhu brand products of Songyuan's SYFCO Corp. Jilin plans to improve brand recognition and make Jilin Rice a household name around the country. Photos By Ding Luyang / For China Daily

Jilin is known for its ideal geographical location for producing high quality rice varieties. Provided To China Daily

(China Daily 10/14/2016 page24)