Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-30
In the wake of a string of food and drink safety scandals in China in recent years and increasing scrutiny of food and drink products, many firms are promoting organic products in the hope of profiting from increasingly health-conscious consumers in the country, according to a report in Shanghai's National Business Daily.
The Luzhou Laojiao booth of the 2005 Jinan Autumn Sugar and Liquor
Exhibition, Oct. 11, 2005. (Photo/CFP)
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In the wake of a string of food and drink safety scandals in China in recent years and increasing scrutiny of food and drink products, many firms are promoting organic products in the hope of profiting from increasingly health-conscious consumers in the country, according to a report in Shanghai's National Business Daily.
Liu Ping,
director of the Ministry of Agriculture's Green Food Development Center, was
cited by the paper as stating that demand for organic products in China has
been growing at 30% over recent years, which has fueled interest from firms
eager to profit on the trend.
On July 25,
Sichuan-based baijiu producer Luzhou Laojiao announced that it was forming an
"organic alliance" with five other companies, Inner Mongolia Shengmu
Gaoke Raising Company, Yantai Weilong Grape Wine Company, Beidahuang Qinmin
Organic Food Company, Beijing-based Bainianliyuan Eco-agriculture Company and
Beijing-based Xingnong Taihua Organic Farming Company, according to the paper.
The Rise of
Organic Baijiu
Luzhou is
located in southern Sichuan and the red sorghum that grows on the fertile
purple soil there, used to make Luzhao Laojiao's liquor, contains a lot of
starch, making it very glutinous.
Products
can only be called organic in China if they meet rigorous national standards
governing the environmental conditions of the land in which raw ingredients are
grown. Luzhou Laojiao began to work towards organic sorghum planting in 2000,
starting with trials and finally gaining certification.
It is now
sorghum harvesting season and the head of production for Luzhou Red Sorghum
Modern Agricultural Development Company Tang Youcai says it took five to six
years for the sorghum to grow to head height. Luzhou Laojiao has signed
contracts with farmers occupying over 3,300 hectares of sorghum fields across
three counties in Luzhou. Only half of the sorghum produced ends up being
certified as organic, according to Tang.
Producing
organic baijiu is a relatively new field in China. One distiller tested the
waters back in 2008 and the market heated up after organic baijiu stole the
show at the 2010 Jinan Autumn Sugar and Liquor Exhibition.
Explosive
Growth
Organic
farming is already common in the wine industry. Recently the largest organic
wine producer in Bordeaux teamed up with wine distributer 1919, to launch
themselves on the Chinese market.
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