Innovation reshapes many of local traditional industries

With green development and technological innovation reshaping traditional industries, companies in Liaocheng, East China's Shandong province, are developing new products and adopting new business models to unlock fresh growth opportunities.

From putting industrial resources and technologies to use in modern farming to reshaping traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, products for a younger generation, local companies are broadening their business boundaries and finding new ways to improve efficiency and reach consumers.

At Xinfa Group, an industrial conglomerate with businesses spanning aluminum, energy and chemicals, that transformation is taking shape inside sprawling greenhouses, where cherries and strawberries are growing with some unlikely help — waste heat and captured carbon dioxide from nearby industrial facilities.

The resources are channeled into Xinfa's modern agricultural industrial park in Liaocheng's Chiping district, where the company is applying technologies and production methods more commonly associated with factories to farming.

Zhang Xuexin, founder of Xinfa Group, said the agricultural park's annual production of cherries and strawberries has exceeded 500,000 kilograms each, with largemouth bass output also surpassing 500,000 kg. A rabbit breeding base that began operations earlier this year is designed to produce 16 million rabbits annually at full capacity.

Waste heat at 68 C and captured carbon dioxide from Xinfa's industrial facilities are channeled directly into greenhouses and livestock facilities, helping regulate growing conditions, lower energy costs and enable production outside traditional growing seasons. Pan Xingwang, president of Xinfa Group's agriculture unit, said the company is building circular links between different farming operations.

"Waste from rabbit farming is used as fertilizer for fruit production, nutrients recovered from fish farming are used for irrigation, and pruned branches and discarded leaves are fermented into fertilizer," said Pan.

Elsewhere in Liaocheng, innovation is helping TCM company Dong'e Ejiao Co connect with a new generation of consumers.

China's largest donkey-hide gelatin producer by sales revenue is stepping up product innovation and brand renewal as it seeks to make the traditional tonic part of everyday consumption.

Traditionally associated with middle-aged and elderly consumers as well as holiday gifting, ejiao is gaining popularity among younger Chinese as demand grows for health and wellness products that fit more easily into daily life.

Zhang Qingwei, president of Dong'e Ejiao's culture and tourism business unit, said young consumers now account for about 30 percent of shoppers in retail pharmacy channels and around 80 percent of those on e-commerce platforms.

To capture that demand, Dong'e Ejiao has developed smaller, ready-to-consume products and expanded into health-focused snacks and beverages. Its instant ejiao powder comes in individual sachets that can be mixed with milk tea, coffee or yogurt, with consumers under 30 accounting for 70 percent of buyers.