Organic Food in China: Opportunities and Challenges

BioFach China 2012 will be held in Shanghai International Exhibition Center from May 24th to 26th. China is a very promising market for organic produce and is about to reach a phase of rapid growth, with an estimated value of 59.4 billion yuan by 2015, according to the host. But currently, technology and management are the two main bottlenecks limiting the market growth.

Shanghai Shihua Organic Produce started to make organic food as early as 1999 but didn't reap rewards until recent years. They think high cost is the main stumbling block. So the company spent 100m yuan on the research and development of a bio-fertilizer which would allow an acre of land to grow six tones of potatoes.

It is known that organic potatoes are always more expensive because organic potatoes' output per acre is only 1 tons while that of ordinary potatoes is about 2~3 tons.