Listed modern agro-business thriving in ancient Changde

As one of the cradles of China’s agriculture, Changde in Hunan province still preserves paddy fields used 8,000 years ago and ancient rice breeds dating back 6,000 years.

But today Jinjian Cereals Industry Co in the city is the star due to its modern agriculture, state-of-the-art technologies and market vision.

The company was founded in 1998 and in the same year became the first grain company in the nation listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It specializes in processing grain, cooking oil and health food.

Its Gaea Gem trademark was granted the status of wellknown trademark in 2005.

It has also expanded into medicine and real estate in recent years.

Last year it was selected as one of the top 50 rice processors and top 100 grain and oil companies in China.

Its products include those made from rice and flour as well as cooking oil, dairy products and medicines. They cover of the market in large Chinese cities covered by Jinjian

products more than 85 percent of the market in large Chinese cities, including all provincial capitals.

Nearly 100,000 retailers across the nation including more than 2,800 large stores and supermarket chains carry its products.

Its noodles are also sold in the United States, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Company executives said the 2015 goal for sales revenues is 5 billion yuan ($823.5 million).

It has an R& D system in partnership with many national leading research institutions and universities that includes a rice engineering R&D center co-founded with the Ministry of Agriculture, a provincial rice engineering technology center and a postdoctoral workshop.

It is responsible for more than 20 national or provincial research projects and has generated a series of achievements.

Jinjian has developed worldleading techniques to control its product quality, especially in rice processing, and is still making efforts to improve management and product safety, according to the company.

Each grain of unhusked rice needs to go through 19 processes along a 1-km-long production line before sale, said the executives.

More than 20 types of the company’s products are now recognized as “green” food by national authorities.

In addition to traditional sales models, it is also in e-business with a flagship store on Tmall.com, one of China’s biggest shopping portals, that has closed more than 300,000 deals.

It plans to build its own online business especially for grain and oil products.