According to media reports, China's national standard submission for prepared dishes has already been released, and the results will be ready within half a year at the earliest. The biggest highlight of these standards is that preservatives are prohibited, and they must be transported in a cold chain. Wang Fengzhong, director of the Agricultural Products Processing Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that the national standard took nearly a year of research. The ban on preservatives was to respond to social concerns, while stressing that cold chain requirements are a further regulation of the industry.

The introduction of this standard is thought to significantly raise the industry threshold. Anxin Securities pointed out that the prepared food industry is small, weak, and scattered, and the national standard requirements will promote standardization and standardization of the industry and promote industry upgrading.

More than 60,000 domestic prepared dish-related companies

socalledprecooked dishes,It is a semi-finished or finished product made using one or more ingredients as the main ingredient, with or without additives and condiments, processed by washing, cutting, mixing, etc., or cooked using techniques such as frying, frying, roasting, cooking, and steaming. As people's pace of life accelerates and eating habits change, demand in the prepared food market is gradually increasing.

The data shows that in 2022, China's prepared food market reached 419.6 billion yuan, an increase of 21.3% over the previous year. In terms of market penetration, the “China Culinary Association Five-Year (2021-2025) Work Plan” shows that the penetration rate of prepared dishes in China has reached 10% to 15%, and is expected to increase to 15% to 20% in 2030, and the market size can reach 1.2 trillion yuan.

According to the enterprise survey, there are currently 62,700 enterprises related to prepared dishes in China. Shandong currently has 7,985 pre-prepared dish-related enterprises, ranking first; Henan and Jiangsu currently have 5,920 and 5,580 pre-prepared dish-related enterprises respectively, ranking in the top three.

From a city perspective, Shenzhen currently has 1,787 pre-prepared food-related enterprises, ranking first. Changchun and Weifang currently have 1,562 and 1,349 prepared dish-related enterprises respectively, ranking in the top three.

The market is expected to maintain a high growth rate in the future

Currently, consumption of new types of food is more in line with the lifestyle of young people, and the prepared food industry is also on the cusp of consumption. According to the China Restaurant Chain Report, China's prepared food market will reach 543.4 billion yuan in 2023, surpass trillion yuan in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of over 20%.

In recent years, China has attached great importance to the development of the prepared food industry. It has successively introduced a series of laws and regulations to regulate food production, processing and distribution, and has also established a food safety traceability mechanism, providing a good foundation for the development of the prepared food industry.

Meanwhile, as the Spring Festival holiday approaches, “prepared dishes for New Year's Eve dinner” has once again become a hot topic, and pre-made dishes from major e-commerce platforms are also being promoted and sold.

Industry data shows that during the 2023 Spring Festival, consumers from all over the country purchased New Year's Eve dinner, and the customer unit price of meat products such as pork, beef, and lamb surged 40% month-on-month, and meat dishes still firmly occupy the C position of the New Year's Eve dinner table. In the same period, the national sales volume of prepared dishes was about 130 billion yuan, while sales for the whole year were about 600 billion yuan, accounting for 20% of the year during the Spring Festival. The annual economic volume is obvious.

Dongxing Securities Research Report believes that prepared dishes can reduce catering costs and improve meal delivery efficiency, and that the penetration rate of prepared dishes will increase with the industrialization and chain rate of catering. As the degree of restaurant chains in China increases year by year, catering industrialization will become a development trend, and demand for prepared dishes will increase year by year.

Ping An Securities also stated that prepared food can effectively improve meal delivery efficiency, improve the cost structure, and benefit from the increase in the chain rate of downstream catering companies in the long term. At the same time, the boom in the downstream catering industry is gradually improving, and Big B's recovery is sloping ahead of Little B. At this time, leading companies with scale advantages are expected to quickly seize market share and improve profitability through product structure optimization and refined cost management.

Concept stocks at a glance:

Yasui Foods:It is mainly engaged in R&D, production and sales of quick-frozen hot pot products (mainly quick-frozen surimi products and quick-frozen meat products) and quick-frozen rice products.

Chef Chimi Mio:The main business is R&D, production and sales of frozen rice products for catering companies. The main products are fritters, sesame balls, egg tart, sweet potato balls, and cartoon buns.

League of Nations Fisheries:The main products include freshly processed aquatic food products, deeply processed foods and prepared dishes, and selected imported seafood products from around the world.

Huifa Foods:The company is a large-scale food processing enterprise integrating R&D, production and sales of quick-frozen food, such as quick-frozen precooked products, sausage products, deep-fried products, skewers, dish products, etc., and the promotion and operation of the supply chain business. The company is a large-scale food processing enterprise integrating R&D, production and sales of frozen prepared meat products.

Mishika:The main business is focused on R&D, production and sales of semi-finished dishes. The company's products include beef, pork, poultry, aquatic products, and hot pot. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of semi-finished dishes in the industry.

Quanjude:The pre-made New Year's Eve dinner series launched by the company includes three types: Family Portrait (Buddha Jumping Over the Wall), Gathering Meals, and German Reunion, which are produced by the original master.