Weihai: Rongcheng was honored “Renowned Town of Seafood in China” and “Town of Green Food in China” on September 7.

The city now boasts 596 food handling companies, including 256 industrial enterprises above designated size and 185 foreign funded businesses.

All major economic indicators of the food service account for over 40 percent of the total local industrial economy.

By 2008 the city’s enterprises above designated size had achieved 68 billion yuan of gross industrial output and 62.6 billion yuan of annual sales revenue, increasing by 18 percent and 11.4 percent year-on-year respectively, according to the statistics from the Rongcheng Promoting Bureau for Food Industry.

"Currently a series of local “triple marine product”, including marine food, marine healthcare product and marine biological medicine with unique features, are popular around the world. Rongcheng has developed into China’s biggest production and export base for frozen seafood, frozen seasoning food, kelp products, canned aquatic products and deep sea fish oil balls,” said the director of the Rongcheng Promoting Bureau for Food Industry.

Rongcheng is now home to 178 export food businesses, accounting for more than a half of the total of Weihai. The export exchange earning generated by the local farm products exceeds that of the other county-level cities of Shandong province, whilst the food sector has entered high-end markets in Europe, America, Japan and South Korea.

Not only does the booming industry bring economic interests, but also spurs the development of more than 100 related enterprises. They have been integrated into a marine industrial cluster, nurturing and supporting a raft of key groups and internationally well-known products.

Editor Li Jing