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New Sheep-Product Center Due in North China
Linhe City, a major cashmere production and processing base in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has mapped out a five-year plan to build itself into a sheep-product center in north China.
In five years' time, the annual value of sheep-related products will top two billion yuan (about 240 million U.S. dollars), according to a senior Party official of Linhe Wednesday.
Wei Fangzhi, secretary of the Linhe City Committee of the Communist Party of China, outlined the blueprint at the China Cashmere Exposition and the First Council of the Chinese Cashmere Enterprises Federation which opened here Wednesday.
Linhe will carry out industrial restructuring in the next five years, the official said, adding that in due time, sheep raising and the processing of related products will replace crop-growing as the city's pillar industry.
By 2005, the number of breeding sheep will increase to six million head, from 800,000 head in 2000, averaging 100 sheep per household.
The annual income from sheep-raising will reach 2,000 yuan per person.
The turnover of sheep raising and processing will double the present figure, to make up 75 percent of the city's total industrial output value, up 20 percent from the present figure.
"We welcome domestic and overseas investment in the sector, and will provide a series of favorable policies concerning business operations and the investment environment," Wei said.
Dozens of enterprises involved in processing cashmere, mutton and sheepskin are attending the exposition and discussing the trends and development in the sector.
Linhe is located at the Yellow River bend area. Its 150 varieties of wild herbal plants are ready fodder for sheep. Along with 600,000 tons of crop stalks and 200,000 tons of corn, the area can support 6.2 million sheep.
The city has become the largest cashmere and mutton market and distribution center for sheep-related products in China, trading 10 million sheep and exporting 4,000 tons of cashmere and wool per year.
In recent years, large-scale sheep processing enterprises have mushroomed in the city. The Chengxin Cashmere Clothing Company can process 200,000 sheepskins every year. It has developed a dozen wool and sheep products, which have been popular in the markets of the United States, Europe and Japan.
So far, the city has set up 102 wool dressing and spinning enterprises, accounting for one fourth of the country's total. Brand-name sheep products manufactured by these enterprises are selling well in over 20 countries and regions.
Experts attending the exposition agree that the sheep product processing industry is characterized by small investment and big profits.
The industry is expected to become more competitive after China enters the World Trade Organization. Mutton and cashmere are in great demand on both the domestic and world markets.
Latest statistics show that the Chinese people's mutton consumption is only 1.62 kg per person, indicating a large potential market.
The world's cashmere production volume is 12,000 tons per year, of which half are produced in China.
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