COFCO President Yu Xubo: Do a good job of "One Belt and One Road" on the tip of the tongue

"in recent years, under the pattern of social co-governance, the overall situation of food safety in China has been stable and improving." During the fourth Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) China theme Day, Cofco Chief Executive Yu Xubo said that this is the best time for the development of the food industry, and China has contributed to the globalization of food trade. Relying on the GFSI platform, Cofco introduced management experience, technology and standards, and carried out in-depth exchanges and cooperation with international first-class enterprises in the fields of source management, inspection and testing, speeding up the integration with the world's advanced management level and enhancing the confidence of the international community in China's food safety.

The best period for the development of the food industry

At present, China's food industry continues to develop vigorously, and its status as a pillar of the national economy is becoming more and more prominent. In 2014, the total output value of the food industry was close to 11 trillion, and the added value accounted for 11.9% of the total industrial added value. The industrial structure has been continuously optimized, the variety of products has become increasingly rich, and consumer demand has been better met. The processing technology has made great progress, the international influence of independent brands has been increasing, and the level of food safety has improved steadily.

Data show that in the 10 years from 2004 to 2013, global food trade increased from 1.3 trillion tons to 3 trillion tons, an increase of 130%. Over the past 10 years, China's food trade volume has increased from 51.4 billion tons to 185 billion tons, an increase of 260 percent, which is twice the global trade volume.

At present, China exports food to more than 210 countries and regions. As the world's largest food exporter, the qualified rate of food exports has remained above 99% for many years.

Yu Xubo told reporters that over the past 66 years, Cofco has been rooted in the Chinese market, forming a complete industrial chain from field to table, forming a production, processing, warehousing and logistics network tailored to local conditions in China's main agricultural products producing and food sales areas, and transporting products to the dining tables of 1.3 billion Chinese people through a sales network covering 90% of China's market.

Not only that, "four years after joining the GFSI, Cofco has actively participated in the formulation of international standards, learned from benchmarking experience, improved the level of management, and guided and promoted food enterprises in the upper and lower reaches of the industrial chain to jointly improve the level of food safety management." Wan Zaotan, vice president of Cofco Group, hopes that more food safety-related parties, such as food manufacturers, service providers, retailers and industry associations, will join GFSI to jointly build a technical exchange platform for food safety management, target international outstanding enterprises, improve food safety management systems, and promote the integration of Chinese standards with advanced world standards.

As the only board member of GFSI in Chinese food production enterprises, Cofco has hosted the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) China theme Day for four consecutive years, which aims to continuously promote international exchanges and cooperation in the field of food safety, reshape the image of China's food industry, and show Chinese business cards in the international arena.

"Belt and Road Initiative" has become a new topic for Chinese enterprises

With the introduction of China's "Belt and Road Initiative" vision and action plan, Chinese food enterprises have ushered in a golden period of development. How to seize the opportunity and walk the "Belt and Road Initiative" on the tip of the tongue has become a new issue for food enterprises, and much attention has been paid to how the central enterprises set up the industry benchmark.

Yu Xubo told reporters that under the guidance of the vision of "Belt and Road Initiative", Cofco is facing the international market, continuously strengthening in-depth cooperation with global business partners in the fields of agricultural products, grains, oils and foodstuffs, tomatoes, fruits and vegetables, beverages, wine, sugar, feed, meat, and bioenergy, and through strategic layout in logistics, processing, distribution and other links, a procurement platform and trade network with coordinated operation have been formed.

In 2015, Cofco's ranking in the Fortune 500 rose from 401 last year to 272 this year, becoming the fastest rising Chinese company.

There is not only the whole industry chain but also developed purchasing platform and purchasing and marketing network. It will undoubtedly be difficult to implement how to better integrate with the whole world and lead the industry enterprises to form a joint force.

To this end, Yu Xubo witnessed the signing of a global strategic cooperation agreement between the China Nutrition and Health Food Association (CNHFA) and the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). The two sides will set up a professional committee on food safety promotion to achieve docking with GFSI China. Industry insiders believe that the move marks the official landing of the Global Food Safety Initiative in China.

The two sides will strive to build a platform for communication, resource sharing and best practice sharing between the industry and the public sector, and to carry out food safety capacity-building and educational activities, while establishing self-regulatory mechanisms to introduce and promote international leading food safety best practices based on HACCP principles, and to coordinate the food safety requirements of food purchasers and manufacturers through the development of GFSI-approved standards.