As a major center for China's marine economy, Rongcheng City leverages the prefabricated vegetable industry to drive the transformation and upgrading of its marine economy. In 2022, the city gathered over 400 prefabricated vegetable enterprises (including 105 above-scale enterprises), cultivated 3 China-renowned brands and 2 China famous-brand products, and achieved an industrial output value exceeding 10 billion yuan. In April 2023, Rongcheng City was awarded the title of "China's Hometown of Marine Prefabricated Vegetables," marking a new stage of high-quality development for the marine food industry.

Solid Industrial Foundation and Unique Resource Endowment

Located at the easternmost tip of the Shandong Peninsula, Rongcheng is surrounded by the sea on three sides, boasting nearly 500 kilometers of coastline and 580,000 mu of seawater aquaculture area, as well as 307 deep-sea fishing vessels. In 2022, Rongcheng produced 1.731 million tons of aquatic products, achieving a total fishery revenue of 108.66 billion yuan, ranking first among county-level cities nationwide for 41 consecutive years, and establishing regional brands such as "China's Kelp Capital" and "China's Squid Hometown."

Rongcheng has a strong foundation in aquatic product processing, with 539 marine food processing enterprises. It is a renowned marine food city in China and a strong county for characteristic and advantageous foods in Shandong Province. In recent years, numerous marine food processing enterprises have developed and produced over 1,000 ready-to-eat, ready-to-mix, ready-to-heat, and ready-to-cook products, forming a diverse food system with meat and vegetable combinations, main and side dishes, both northern and southern styles of cuisine, suitable for both domestic and international markets.

Well-established Policy System and Strong Innovation Momentum

In early 2022, Rongcheng City took the lead in issuing the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the High-Quality Development of the Prefabricated Vegetable Industry," encouraging enterprises to actively expand into the ready-to-mix, ready-to-cook, ready-to-heat, and ready-to-eat prefabricated vegetable sectors. Ten measures were formulated to encourage enterprise project construction, increase R&D investment, and establish regional brands, providing stronger support for enterprises to develop new products, explore new markets, and engage in new collaborations, striving for greater market share and development opportunities, and comprehensively enhancing the competitiveness and influence of Rongcheng's marine prefabricated vegetable industry.

Rongcheng City adheres to the concept of "city partners," targeting local enterprises, out-of-town investors, and Rongcheng natives working elsewhere. It establishes industrial funds and provides a 10% equipment subsidy to enterprises with technological transformation investments exceeding 5 million yuan. It fully implements the "Returning Home" plan, along with the "20 Measures to Care for Entrepreneurs" and "21 Measures to Attract Talents," creating an "entrepreneur-friendly city" business environment through events such as "afternoon tea" sessions between government and enterprises, and visits by academicians and experts to Rongcheng.

Leading Enterprises Driving the Entire Industry Chain

With leading enterprises such as Shandong Lanrun Group, a "leading enterprise + industrial alliance + supporting enterprises" echelon pattern has been formed. Prefabricated vegetables refer to semi-finished food ingredients produced by food processing enterprises through centralized production, scientific packaging, and rapid freezing. Shandong Lanrun Group, as one of Rongcheng City's leading food processing enterprises, has been deeply involved in related fields for many years, forming a prefabricated vegetable product matrix centered on tuna deep processing. It develops high value-added prefabricated vegetables such as tuna sashimi, canned tuna (egg yolk flavor, seafood flavor, sweet and spicy flavor, etc.), and tuna flakes, and utilizes fish bones to extract collagen peptide powder, extending into the health product, skincare product, and high-end biomedical fields.

Simultaneous Improvement of Quality and Brand, Global Market Layout

A full-chain supervision system has been established, encompassing "no hidden dangers at the source, no prohibited inputs, no blind spots in management, and no barriers to exports." Over 300 enterprises have obtained ISO9000 certification, and the "Shidao Fresh Food" regional public Brand has been developed. It has been awarded national-level honors such as the National Demonstration Zone for Healthy and Ecological Aquaculture and the National Demonstration County for Aquatic Product Quality and Safety. "Green, organic, safe, healthy, and nutritious" has become synonymous with Rongcheng's marine prefabricated vegetables.

Rongcheng City actively integrates into the new development pattern, coordinating both international and domestic markets, and continuously improving the modernized logistics system, including port transportation, warehousing and distribution, and cold chain logistics. Relying on Shidao Port and Longyan Port, two national first-class open ports, and 10 first-class open operating port areas, it has become a county-level city with the most open ports, the longest open coastline, and the highest density of openness in the country, with products sold to over 20 countries and regions, including Japan, South Korea, and Europe and America. In 2022, it was approved to build one of the first batch of national backbone cold chain logistics bases, and the marine cold chain logistics industrial cluster was selected as one of the top ten industrial "echelon" clusters in Shandong Province. The perfect cold chain logistics system and the vibrant pattern of opening up to the outside world have built convenient channels and provided solid support for Rongcheng's marine prefabricated vegetable products to reach tables across the country and around the world.

Rongcheng City plans to cultivate 2 enterprises with revenue exceeding 5 billion yuan, increase the number of above-scale enterprises to over 200, develop more than 100 Rongcheng-characteristic marine prefabricated vegetable brands, achieve a marine prefabricated vegetable product quality inspection pass rate of over 99%, and achieve an industrial output value exceeding 35 billion yuan by 2025. It will strive to create the "China's Famous City of Marine Prefabricated Vegetables," contributing Rongcheng's strength to rural revitalization and the construction of a strong maritime nation.

   From China Food Industry Magazine