(The 9th China International Import Expo) Understand China’s taste buds and multinational companies continue to innovate locally

China News Service, Shanghai, November 8th. Title: Understand Chinese taste buds. Multinational companies continue to innovate locally.

China News Service reporter Xu Shanshan

At the 9th China International Import Expo being held in Shanghai, a whiskey in front of the booth of French wine merchant Pernod Ricard attracted a lot of attention.

Zhu Li'an, CEO of Pernod Ricard China, unveiled it in an interview: The company invested in the construction of the Diechuan Distillery in Sichuan. The inspiration for this Diechuan smoked barrel whiskey comes from the local smoked bacon technology in Sichuan. "We smoked the oak barrels and put the whiskey in them for at least 6 months."

At the CIIE, a localized exploration of "how to understand Chinese taste buds" has become a common topic for exhibitors. In order to integrate products into the daily dining tables of Chinese consumers, multinational companies have come up with "customized in China" solutions.

Ren Shengnan, director of corporate communications for Lesaffre Greater China, a century-old French yeast company, said that in line with the trend of reducing salt and sugar in the Chinese market, the company is working on adding natural yeast extract to reduce salt without reducing flavor, and meet the baking industry's increasing demand for clean labels. Theland New Zealand's booth debuted A2 fresh milk powder for Chinese people with gastrointestinal sensitivities, which attracted market attention upon its launch.

New products customized for Chinese taste buds are just the surface on the booth. Through the window of the CIIE, a deeper supply chain and manufacturing transformation is taking place.

"China is becoming an important source of innovation for Cargill." Guan Huili, President of Cargill China, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service that the company's development in China is accelerating its transformation to "innovate for China." This transformation is accompanied by real money investment. The relocation project of Cargill's new grain and oil plant in Nantong, with a total investment of approximately US$500 million, has been launched, and the Beijing factory expansion project is progressing as scheduled. Currently, Cargill has deployed more than 40 operating points in China, with a total investment of more than US$2.7 billion.

The lowering of R&D capabilities will allow innovative results to be better integrated into China’s local manufacturing. Li Yi, President of Cargill Animal Nutrition and Health China, told reporters that the company has launched Asia's first global animal nutrition innovation center in Yuncheng, Shanxi. "China's agriculture and animal husbandry industry is accelerating modernization and upgrading. This time we have launched blockbuster new products such as Jiarubao specially designed for dairy calves and Jiaxue Snowflake fattening solution for beef cattle to help local breeding customers improve their production performance."

The localized layout of multinational giants not only caters to the Chinese market, but also feeds Chinese experience back into the global network. Lesaffre has upgraded the baking center at its Shanghai headquarters into an Asia-Pacific industrial baking center. "Nowadays, the headquarters will look at China's successful cases during meetings, hoping to learn from other regions." Ren Shengnan said.

Guan Huili said that innovations originating from China not only serve the local market, but are also gradually serving the Asia-Pacific and even global markets. With the start of major projects such as the new factory in Nantong, multinational companies are deeply rooted in China in the entire chain of R&D, production and supply chains. While satisfying Chinese taste buds, they continue to promote the upgrading of China's local manufacturing capabilities and overseas expansion.