How can China's food industry go global? Luo Yunbo suggests leveraging the Belt and Road

On November 9-10, the 13th Annual Meeting of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology was held in Beijing. Luo Yunbo, a professor at China Agricultural University, pointed out in his speech that China's food industry needs to actively go global with the help of the "Belt and Road" initiative, and promote the healthy development of domestic and international food trade.

"Food is the first necessity of the people. Whether it is the countries along the Silk Road or China, food always represents a huge market." Luo Yunbo said that China is constantly seeking new development opportunities in the "Belt and Road" initiative, and for the food industry to "go global," this is also a rare historical opportunity. Under the current wave of "mass entrepreneurship and innovation," we need the courage to strive for innovation and go global.

Luo Yunbo believes that the food industry's "going global" still faces many challenges, including incomplete supporting links for China's outbound investment, the need for food production processes and product standards to align with international standards, and the need to understand the full control standard systems of destination countries. In addition, it may also face political risks, natural risks, market risks, and local social environment risks.

Luo Yunbo said that we should still take innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing as development concepts, and through the drive of the "Belt and Road," solve problems such as the relatively high cost and low grade of China's agricultural products and food, which make it difficult to adapt to social consumption demand, and insufficient international competitiveness, so as to promote industrial transformation, adjustment, and upgrading, thereby changing the sharp contradictions of agricultural product surplus alongside large-scale imports, low product efficiency, and unsustainable development.

"The 'Belt and Road' initiative has provided a rare opportunity for China's food industry. Chinese food is confident it can go global, has the ability to go further and longer, and is confident it can make greater contributions to China's economic development and takeoff." Luo Yunbo said.