Summary: On 26 May, Heilongjiang Agriculture and Agricultural Products Processing Project Investment Promotion Conference was successfully held, which aimed to invite enterprises of all kinds in this industry to pay a visit to Heilongjiang, negotiate businesses, and start investment and entrepreneurship in the province. The conference stressed that Heilongjiang Province at large would focus on processing business of such competitive crops as corn, rice, and soybean in future. By 2025, the whole industry chain of corn in the entire province will expand by 20%, with a net increase of USD15.73 billion (RMB100 billion) in output value.

On 26 May, Heilongjiang Agriculture and Agricultural Products Processing Project Investment Promotion Conference was successfully held, which was sponsored by Heilongjiang Province People's Government and organized by the Department of Agricultural and Rural Affairs of Heilongjiang Province and the Department of Commerce of Heilongjiang Province among others. This conference sought to promote modern, large-scale agriculture of Heilongjiang Province in an all-round way, to establish export platforms for quality, local farm produce, and to invite all enterprises concerned to pay a visit to Heilongjiang, negotiate businesses, start investment and entrepreneurship, and develop exchanges and cooperation.

It is reported that Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee and Heilongjiang Province People's Government stated at the conference that they had decided to prioritize the processing industry of agriculture and agricultural products as the crucial pillar industry of the entire province, and that they would be committed to establishing industrial clusters and making arrangements from the perspective of the whole industry chain at large. Specifically, Heilongjiang determined investment directions related to a total of 26 aspects under five categories, namely, food industrial base construction, local-crops farming industrial base construction, modern breeding base construction, agricultural products processing industry development, and agriculture and farm produce supporting projects establishment. The conference introduced Investment Opportunity List which entailed up to 811 investment projects. Furthermore, the established agricultural industry was classified into 16 sub-industries, including corn, soybean, rice, dairy product, meat and so forth, and a clear-cut, comprehensive diagram of industry chains was shown, highlighting the processing industry of such competitive crops as corn, rice, and soybean.

The conference emphasized that by 2025, Heilongjiang agriculture and agricultural products fine processing industrial clusters shall reach up to USD157.30 billion (RMB1.00 trillion) in total output value, which means adding at least USD59.77 billion (RMB380 billion) in output value. For this purpose, an overall plan has been made:

• The whole industry chain of corn is set to expand by 20%, with a net increase of USD15.73 billion (RMB100 billion);
• The whole industry chain of meat is set to expand by 63%, with a net increase of USD15.73 billion (RMB100 billion);
• The whole industry chain of dairy products is set to double its output value, with a net increase of USD9.91 billion (RMB63 billion);
• Others industries including rice industry, fruit and vegetable industry, etc, is set to achieve a net increase of USD20.45 million (RMB130 billion) in total.

 

Meanwhile, three prefecture-level cities in Heilongjiang, namely, Suihua, Qiqihar, and Heihe, promoted investment projects in their respective breakout sessions. It's reported that production capacity of corn fine processing in Heilongjiang amounted to 33 million tonnes in 2020, with Suihua and Qiqihar being the two main contributors. Presently, Suihua ranks first among prefecture-level cities across China in terms of corn fine processing capacity, with the production capacity of 10 million tonnes. Sun Biao, Municipal Party Committee Deputy Secretary and Acting Mayor of Suihua, said during the investment promote session that the city would put its focus on making itself become the center of corn bio-fermentation industry across Asia; at the same time, it would intensively introduce such fine processing projects in future as antibiotics, organic acid, health products, pharmaceutical intermediates, high-end condiments, etc. Besides, it's reported that Qiqihar increased its real processing and transformation volume of corn up to 5.2 million tonnes in 2020, demonstrating 247% growth compared to the figure in 2017; its total output value of corn processing ended up at USD2.08 billion (RMB13.2 billion) in 2020, demonstrating 388% growth compared to the figure in 2017. Qiqihar municipal government stated that it would continue to scale up the capacity for corn processing industry and make its corn industry chain more competitive in future.  

Endowed with abundant natural resources, Heilongjiang is a natural granary recognized by the world, topping the country in both cultivation area and output of corn, rice, and soybean. What's more, Heilongjiang has established in Zhaodong city the first China International Agricultural Products Processing Industrial Park in Northeast China, which has become a critical platform for agricultural products fine processing in Northeast Asia.

It should be noted that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Heilongjiang Province announced in April this year that in response to the national plan for appropriately increasing cultivation areas of corn, Heilongjiang would properly raise subsidies for corn producers in 2021 from the the subsidy standard in the year earlier. This measure is expected to significantly stimulate farmers' enthusiasm for growing corn and therefore corn output of the entire province in 2021 stands to rise up, which will guarantee a stable supply of premium raw material for corn deep processing projects.