"We want to work as a central kitchen of Chinese food for Singapore, which means we produce Singapore food in China and deliver them to Singapore through the export base in Nansha within 24 hours," said Li Huang, the general manager of Guangzhou Xueyin Food Co., Ltd., when introducing his business with Singapore to Joyce Lee, Vice President of Singapore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China Guangdong Branch.
As the FHA Food&Beverage Asia 2023 is underway in Singapore from April 25 to 28, Joyce Lee, also a Singaporean businesswoman in the food industry, took the opportunity to visit Guangdong Xueyin Group Co., Ltd.
Xueyin is an agricultural supply chain management and operation enterprise integrating the breeding of agricultural products, cold chain processing and storage, central kitchen and agricultural information services.
According to Li, his company has planned to build an offline experience centre for pre-made cuisine in Nansha District in Guangzhou. By gathering well-known Cantonese food brands in Nansha, the district can serve as a "long-lasting Canton Fair of pre-made food", so that the guests can experience the profoundness of the eight major regional cuisines of China.
Importantly, RCEP also facilitates to reduce costs. On the one hand, the reciprocal tariff exemption policy in the near future can help save tax costs. On the other hand, RCEP countries are mostly located nearby China, so the transportation costs can also be reduced. By virtue of the port in Nansha, the pre-made food can be exported to RCEP countries as soon as possible, especially coastal countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.
"We'll endeavour to produce ready-to-eat cuisine that can be preserved at 0 to 4 degrees Celsius, allowing consumers in RCEP countries, especially in Singapore, to place orders today and receive fresh pre-made cuisine tomorrow," Li explained.
Moreover, the company also co-brands with popular restaurants and century-old brands in China to digitalize their standard production processes, so that more customers can enjoy the original tastes of the brands without having to leave home.
"We work to help small and medium-sized pre-made cuisine enterprises go global, allowing people around the world to taste the delicacies from China," Li stressed.
Guangdong Xueyin Group Co., Ltd. features four series of pre-made cuisine, including Hakka flavours, Lingnan greens, non-washed vegetables and seasoned side dishes. At present, it has set up several distribution centres for agricultural products in north, east and west Guangdong as well as the GBA, and established a cold chain distribution network stretching across the whole province.
"I'm so glad that your products can be accessible to Singapore, and I hope that you can work harder based on this successful step to gain further development by following RCEP," Joyce Lee replied at the end of their conversation.
Reporter: Nancy Ye, Lin Jianmin
Video/Photo: Li Qiaoxin, Xu Xiaoxin, Qin Shaolong
English subtitles: Nancy Ye
Editor: Olivia, Nan, James
