Shandong's Tai'an city expands food industry park

Ningyang county in Tai'an city – located in East China's Shandong province – is moving to transform its modern food industry park into a leading food industry hub in China.

Now home to 18 food manufacturers, the food industry park focuses on developing sectors for grain and oil processing, ready-made food, snack foods, fruit and vegetable beverages and functional food. 

Resident group Shandong Qijia Food Co Ltd recently reached an agreement with China Eastern Airlines Ltd, making it available for foreign clients to enjoy fresh and delicious bread produced by the company.

The group also supplies premade baking products to bakery stores and young bakery owner Xiao Song is a beneficiary.

With the premade baking products, Xiao merely pops them in the oven for five minutes to get delicious bread comparable to that made by a top baker.

In September, the food industry park took active moves to help seven of its firms receive policy funding from Tai'an city.

"Obtaining financial rewards is an encouragement and support for our company, which boosts our investment confidence," said Cao Lei, chairman of a resident food firm called Dafu.

Following the food industry park's accelerated pace towards cluster development, local logistics, warehousing, cold chain distribution and other industries are also expanding.

Cainiao Smart Logistics in the park is the biggest and most well-equipped county-level express delivery and distribution business in Shandong, providing all-round modern logistics services to resident firms.

In the near future, the food industry park is projected to be home to more than 50 companies, with combined annual sales topping 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion). (Edited by Chen Chuxuan)