Current situation and development suggestion of rice noodle industry

I. Analysis of current situation and prospect of rice noodle market

As we all know, rice flour is one of the staple foods for people in south China. People in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Fujian, Chongqing, Zhejiang and other places regard rice flour as an indispensable food. People in the north mainly eat pasta. With the development of society and the improvement of living standards, their eating habits are increasingly diversified. Eating steamed bread, noodles and dumplings every day can no longer meet people's needs. As one of the popular consumer products of the southern characteristic food, rice noodles have been accepted by the northern consumers in recent years and are rapidly increasing to the northern market with increasing sales. According to incomplete statistics, more than half of Chinese residents take rice flour as their breakfast staple food. Rice flour has gradually become an ideal convenience food of nutrition, hygiene, convenience, health care, storable and low price for Chinese residents. It sells well not only in the South, but also prospers gradually all over the country.

Convenient rice noodle started in the market in the early 1990s. From 1998 to the end of 2000, it was basically in the introduction period, and the market was in the cultivation and guidance stage. In 2005, the market has entered the growth stage. Rice is a staple food in the south of China. In recent years, rice products have emerged in the market. Convenient rice products have begun to be promoted in some areas, but at present, there are only more than 10 convenient rice noodle brands. Data show that at present, the domestic convenient rice noodle market accounts for less than 5% of the market share of instant noodles, but in terms of the domestic consumption status, the proportion of rice and noodles consumer groups accounted for about 50%. In mature markets such as Japan and Korea, 15 to 20 percent of the consumption is for instant noodles and instant noodles. Therefore, China's convenient rice noodles still have a huge space for development, which means that with the development of The Times, the market share of convenient rice noodles will be further increased.

Although convenient rice noodles have a huge market space, the current situation of this industry is still not optimistic. From the point of view of the technical equipment convenient for rice noodle production, the automation degree of the equipment is not very high, the process has not been finalized and standardized, and the various detection means are not strong. Some rice products have defects in taste and convenience, which makes it difficult for rice noodle enterprises to grow stronger and bigger in a short time. At the same time, the rice noodle industry not only has a small market share, but also has low brand recognition rate and uneven product quality. At present, there is no leading brand in the real sense in the domestic convenient rice noodle market. The product homogeneity is serious, the industrial innovation is not enough, and the whole convenient rice noodle market is still competing at a low level. How to improve the industrial level, tap the market opportunity and promote the development of the industry is a huge challenge.

From the perspective of foreign markets, Chinese rice noodles have better product characteristics, low price and differentiated market space. With the acceleration of the pace of life and the improvement of living standards, rice noodles, as a nutritious, non-fried and allergen-free convenience food, are being favored by foreign consumers, and the export volume of Chinese rice noodles is on the rise. The export products include dry powder and fresh-keeping wet powder. The fresh-keeping wet powder has a shelf life of more than 12 months due to its good solution to the problem of fresh-keeping. It is convenient to use microwave oven heating, wok steaming and frying, or water brewing and other ways to eat. As the pioneer in the production and sale of fresh wet rice noodles in our country, Hunan Jinjian Rice Industry Co., LTD., better solved the problem of fresh and wet rice noodles fresh-keeping. The products, which can prevent corruption and metamorphism due to microbial reproduction and can better keep the color, fragrance, taste, form and organizational structure of rice noodles, also took the lead in going out of the country. Through the development of the past few years, the sales of foreign markets are also growing, the products are now exported to the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands and other places, the sales momentum is getting better and better.

2. Factors affecting the development of rice noodle industry

Although the rice noodle industry has developed rapidly in recent years, its development speed and market share are still very small compared with the instant noodle market. In terms of the reasons, in addition to the characteristics of the industry, national policies, product characteristics, technical equipment, marketing and other factors all affect its development speed, which can be analyzed in the following aspects:

1. National policies

After the national food policy was lifted, the rice noodle industry has been rising, especially the breakfast noodle market. Due to the low entry threshold of the rice noodle industry, the raw grain used is early indica rice that has been stored for 1-2 years, with low price and poor quality. The rice has been stored for too long, and some yellow grain rice exceeds the standard. However, the rice flour production rate is high and the investment in building the plant is not large, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of yuan. Many individuals or enterprises want to enter this industry. Small individual rice noodle factories occupy most of the market due to their advantages such as low cost and rapid market consumption, while large rice noodle manufacturers are at a disadvantage in competition due to high cost, inflexible mechanism and untimely service, although they have excellent quality. Due to the lack of government guidance and support, there is a fish-eye mixed competition situation, food safety has great hidden dangers. It is difficult for some large enterprises to survive and brand formation. From the perspective of food safety, the state should raise the threshold of rice noodle market access, strict rice noodle market access system. Local governments should vigorously support the restructuring and integration of rice noodle enterprises, and small workshops with major food safety risks must be banned. On the one hand, food safety can be ensured, and on the other hand, brand enterprises can be formed to put the rice noodle industry on the track of sound development.

2. Product characteristics and edible method

Although the fresh wet breakfast rice noodles are smooth and popular with the public, they are difficult to preserve and go bad within a day. Although adding preservative treatment can solve the problem of preservation, but the aging problem of starch can not be completely solved, which is bound to affect the taste. After rice noodles are recooked, the taste is slow, easy to break, hard, and the smoothness is poor, which also affects the acceptance of consumers. How to prevent starch retrogenesis is a major problem affecting the development of wet rice flour. If this problem can be solved thoroughly, its market potential is huge. Some dry rice noodles also have problems such as water absorption and rehydration is not as good as instant noodles, broken strips, poor bite strength, and hard. The flavoring packs used by rice noodle companies are mainly those derived from instant noodles, but the flavor of the soup is not as good as that of instant noodles.

At present, convenient rice noodles are mainly consumed by boiling water and boiling, and there are also cold, fried, microwave and other methods. With the acceleration of the pace of life and the improvement of people's living standards, the eating methods are also being improved, and the products have been developing in the direction of convenience. Microwave heating and cold mixing of fresh and wet convenient rice noodles are the development direction of main eating methods in the future. In terms of consumption, correct guidance and publicity should be given, and eating methods should be more simple.

3. Processing technology and equipment

Rice noodle processing technology and equipment have made great development in recent years, but compared with other industries, there are still deficiencies such as low degree of automation, high energy consumption and poor compatibility. Many enterprises use the workshop type production of rice noodles, workers labor intensity, poor health conditions, low production efficiency, high production costs. Many enterprises producing fresh and wet rice noodles lack sterilization and packaging equipment. The number of bacteria in processed rice noodles often exceeds the standard, and some even exceed the national standard many times, seriously affecting food safety. Scientific research institutions and equipment manufacturers should study how rice flour production process and equipment meet the requirements of low-carbon economy as soon as possible, as well as production lines with a high degree of automation and good product compatibility. On the basis of the original can greatly improve the production rate and reduce energy consumption, reduce labor costs, which will play a positive role in promoting the development of rice noodle industry.

4. Product classification and product standards

There are many varieties of rice products with different names. On the market, the names are river noodles, rice noodles, rice noodles, shahe noodles, wavy noodles and row noodles. From the point of view of dry and wet, it is divided into dry powder, wet powder and half dry and half wet. The width and thickness of the products are also inconsistent, and the raw grain varieties used are also inconsistent, including early indica rice, late indica rice, Northeast rice and mixed rice. It is necessary for countries to regulate and classify names.

At present, there is no unified national standard for rice noodles, and the product quality is uneven. Some implement industry standards, some implement local standards, some implement enterprise standards, and some have no standards.

5. Marketing strategy

Although after several years of development, the rice noodle industry has not yet formed a large backbone enterprise with brand influence. The level of each enterprise is uneven, the product market influence is not enough, the enterprise lacks strong financial advantage, the lack of investment in marketing, the product publicity is not enough, the consumer awareness is low, and there is no national famous brand. Some enterprises are trying to survive in the cracks.

Three, some suggestions on the development of rice noodle industry

The rice noodle industry is in the growth stage. In the future, after survival of the fittest, a number of large backbone enterprises will gradually emerge, gradually form brands in the market and occupy the market monopoly position. In the future there will be some well-known large enterprises to intervene in this industry, the market will be reshuffled. In the next few years, rice noodles will have a better development and expansion period, and some small enterprises will have difficulties to enter this industry; Large enterprises will have a great improvement in production technology and equipment, product quality and other aspects. Product structure bag, bowl, cup the proportion of products will be greatly improved. This, on the one hand, will create a new layer of consumption, on the other hand, means that the output of the product will grow at a significantly higher rate than the output.

1, from the perspective of food safety, the state should increase the development of rice products industry legislation and related standards. All functional departments have strengthened inspection and supervision in accordance with relevant laws and standards, so as to gradually standardize the rice products market, so that the people can truly eat safe and reliable metric products.

2. The state should give support to the deep processing of grain and oil products, especially the research on the processing technology level of grain and oil and the improvement of equipment and technology level. From the perspective of industrial development, it is urgent to improve the level of equipment and automation, standardize and finalize the rice flour processing equipment.

3, grain and oil science and technology workers should focus on professional personnel to increase the characteristics of rice products and soup research and development, such as: (1) fresh and wet rice flour preservation and prevent starch aging problem; (2) In view of the poor taste of rice products, the characteristic rice noodle soup was developed; (3) According to the characteristics of poor taste of raw grain early rice, we optimized the ratio of raw grain to improve the taste of rice flour. (4) How to reduce the broken strips and enhance the tenacity of rice flour; (5) Research more convenient than instant noodles eating methods; The research of high automation level, low energy consumption, high production rate, good product quality rice flour production technology and equipment and so on. Make the products more acceptable to the majority of consumers.

4. Rice products manufacturers should strengthen communication, learning, mutual support and help through the association platform, and seek common development. The association should do more to foster a good environment for the development of the industry, guide the healthy competition of enterprises, and make more efforts in the rapid development of the industry.

5. In many foreign developed countries, due to the influence of labor costs and other factors, there is still a vacancy in the rice products industry. Our products have a unique consumption space in these places, so we should increase the export of rice noodle products. Because foreign countries have very strict requirements on product quality, all our manufacturers should strengthen management, strict production standards, to ensure food safety, so that the products out of foreign countries can really make people feel at ease and satisfied.

6. Under the premise of ensuring food safety, production enterprises should increase publicity in the marketing process to let people really understand the advantages of rice products compared with instant noodles. In terms of health and nutrition to increase publicity, in the fierce market to separate a piece of cake, slowly forming some brand enterprises. Now many instant noodle enterprises are entering the rice noodle industry, such as Master Kong, Uni-President, Want Want Group and so on are planning or investment.

Rice product industry is an industry with good development prospects, but also an industry with early start and difficult development. It not only needs to face the strong mature market of instant noodles, but also needs to solve many problems in product characteristics and technical equipment. Workers in the rice products industry should join hands and work together under the guidance of national policies to seek common development and make the rice products industry a real sunrise industry.