Rongcheng City, as the core node of the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Belt, relies on its unique marine resource endowment to lead China's cod industry towards high-end and branded transformation. In the global marine economy landscape, this industry has leapt from traditional processing to new heights through a complete industrial chain and continuous technological innovation. Shandong Lanrun Group Co., Ltd., leveraging a full industrial chain layout as a fulcrum and driven by dual engines of technological and model innovation, has not only reshaped the competitive pattern of the regional marine food industry but also provided an innovative practice model for the sustainable development of China's marine economy.

Building the Full Chain: Strengthening the Core Competitive Foundation of the Cod Industry

Rongcheng City boasts a mature marine industry ecosystem—covering specialized processing parks, an efficiently operating cold chain logistics network, and a comprehensive quality assurance system. Shandong Lanrun relies on this advantage to build a complete cod industry chain of "raw material storage—deep processing—finished product output." At the front end of the industry chain, to ensure stable raw material quality for subsequent processing, the company has established a professional low-temperature storage system, using scientific temperature control technology to achieve full-process fresh storage of cod raw materials from warehousing to delivery. In the mid-processing stage, the company continuously upgrades refined processing techniques guided by market demand, ultimately forming a multi-category product matrix covering frozen cod raw materials, ready-to-eat cod products, and catering-specific prepared cod products.

Currently, in the domestic cod consumption market, "quality upgrading" has become the mainstream trend: consumption scenarios are no longer limited to traditional home cooking but extend to ready-to-eat and high-end contexts—Japanese cuisine outlets have surged demand for fresh cod ingredients, light meal brands have made cod a core item, and the children's complementary food market favors high-quality cod products. Facing this demand change, Shandong Lanrun leverages Rongcheng's mature local processing traceability mechanism and stringent quality and safety certification standards to implement full-process quality control over every step of raw material storage and production processing, precisely addressing market consumption pain points and further consolidating its core competitiveness in cod processing.

Technology Empowerment and Innovation: Activating the Quality and Efficiency Enhancement Engine of the Cod Industry

To achieve the transformation of the cod processing industry from "pursuing scale" to "improving quality," technological innovation is an indispensable core support. Shandong Lanrun continuously increases technological investment in cod processing by adopting a dual approach of "introducing advanced equipment + optimizing processing technology," creating an efficient and safe modern production system. For example, in the freezing stage of the processing workshop, the company introduced a carbon dioxide freezing system to reduce nutrient loss in cod while preserving its original taste. Additionally, the workshop is equipped with professional preparation equipment, fully automatic packaging systems, and advanced drying equipment, paired with standardized cold storage, forming a seamless assembly line processing flow. Products are exported to Japan, South Korea, the United States, Europe, and other regions.

The high efficiency of modern equipment combined with skilled worker operations creates a "human-machine collaboration" advantage—significantly improving cod product processing efficiency while ensuring consistent quality in every batch, ultimately delivering safe, reliable, and high-quality cod products to consumers.

Policy Synergy Empowerment: Building a Solid Support for Cod Industry Development

The steady progress of the cod processing industry relies on national policy support. The continuous implementation of policy documents such as the "14th Five-Year National Fishery Development Plan" and the "China Aquatic Biological Resources Conservation Action Outline" has adjusted the operational mechanism of the cod industry chain. Policies support cold chain logistics infrastructure construction and reduce enterprise costs by exempting some import tariffs on cod products, enhancing market supply capacity. Enterprises can also invest more funds and manpower into upgrading cod processing technology and new product development, providing key support for the breakthrough from "traditional rough processing" to "high value-added deep processing."

In the future, Shandong Lanrun Group Co., Ltd. will continue to deepen industry-university-research cooperation, focusing on emerging fields such as prepared dishes and marine functional foods, continuously expanding the application scenarios of cod products—not only providing replicable and promotable practical solutions for the transformation and upgrading of China's marine food industry but also helping China's cod industry seize a more advantageous competitive position in the global market. (Sun Yan)

Excerpted from "China Food Industry Journal"