"The first batch of goods in the Lunar New Year has been shipped to the United States, and domestic orders are also being rushed for production. This year, our company's output value is expected to exceed 70 million yuan, reaching a new level." On the morning of February 9th, Sichuan Deshunyuan Food Co., Ltd. in Mabian Yi Autonomous County was bustling. Su Hui, the general manager of the company, was arranging work while happily talking about the new development of the company.

Sichuan Deshunyuan Food Co., Ltd. is a modern industrial technology enterprise located in Mabian Yi Autonomous County. It specializes in the processing of vacuum freeze-dried foods, hot-air dried foods and individually quick-frozen foods, integrating planting, breeding, research and development, production, and sales at home and abroad. It has obtained production licenses for quick-frozen foods, vegetable products and fruit products, passed the FSSC2200, HACCP food safety system certifications, FDA and kosher certifications, and has become a qualified supplier for companies such as Starbucks, Mercer Foods, Fox Foods and Josée Foods. Its products are sold to the United States, Japan, Europe and other countries and regions.

"Mabian has beautiful mountains and clear waters, and the products are green and ecological." Since the establishment of the company, it has focused on the "green ecology" of Mabian. In Su Hui's view, the core competitiveness of food lies in quality. "As the saying goes, high-end ingredients often only need the simplest cooking."

With this seemingly simple "cooking" method, Sichuan Deshunyuan Food Co., Ltd., located in the hinterland of Xiaoliangshan, has "knocked" on the door of the international market with its products. On February 7th, there was jubilation in Sichuan Deshunyuan Food Co., Ltd. The first batch of export orders after the 2025 Lunar New Year was officially loaded and shipped. This batch of goods includes 4 containers of freeze-dried strawberries and 2 containers of freeze-dried bananas. They are transported by land to Yibin Port and then to Shanghai Port, and finally to Oakland Port in the United States. According to Su Hui, this month the company will send a total of 8 40-foot high-cube containers of goods abroad, with a value of about 8 million yuan, laying a solid foundation for "Made in Mabian" to further enter the global market.

"2025 is a year full of opportunities for us. We have not only successfully opened the door to the US market but also smoothly entered the European market. The heavyweight orders for 200 tons of freeze-dried strawberries and 100 tons of freeze-dried bananas signed with the United States at the beginning of the year fully demonstrate the international market's recognition of our products." When talking about the development of the company, Su Hui couldn't hide his joy.

The development comes from both the company's products and the changes in its operation mode. In January 2025, Sichuan Deshunyuan Food Co., Ltd. successfully carried out a mixed reform with the government platform company of Mabian Yi Autonomous County, achieving a powerful alliance. This successful restructuring has not only brought stronger resource support to the company but also provided a broader platform for its development, further enhancing its competitiveness in the domestic and international markets.

Entering the production workshop of Sichuan Deshunyuan Food Co., Ltd., a busy scene comes into view. The production lines are running at high speed, and the workers are concentrating on working overtime to rush orders and ensure the timely delivery of products. Su Hui introduced that this is another "good start" order in February - 3 million yuan worth of flavored bamboo shoots sold all over the country.

"After the restructuring, our platform is wider, our strength is stronger, and our development has more potential." Su Hui said that according to Mabian's plan, with their company as the main body, the Mabian Bamboo Shoots Deep Processing Industrial Park has been put on the agenda, which is expected to bring fundamental changes to Mabian's bamboo shoots industry.

As a mountainous area, Mabian is rich in bamboo shoot resources. At present, the county has a bamboo shoot base area of 124.9 million mu, and the county's bamboo shoot output in 2024 was about 20,000 tons. It has obtained the geographical indication of "Mabian Bamboo Shoots", and has built 4 county-level modern bamboo industry parks, 1 municipal modern bamboo industry park and 4 provincial modern bamboo industry bases. There are 13 bamboo shoot processing enterprises, including 2 bamboo chip processing enterprises, 9 primary bamboo shoot processing enterprises and 2 deep processing enterprises. The comprehensive output value in 2024 was about 500 million yuan, and more than 40,000 people increased their income significantly by collecting bamboo shoots throughout the year.

At the end of 2024, Sichuan Deshunyuan Food Co., Ltd. introduced a liquid nitrogen fresh-keeping bamboo shoot production line, forming a production model of "three bamboo shoots in parallel" of flavored bamboo shoots, clear water bamboo shoots and quick-frozen bamboo shoots. Especially with the addition of the quick-frozen bamboo shoot production line, the added value of fresh bamboo shoots has been increased three times at once, and the development bottleneck of fresh bamboo shoots being difficult to preserve and inconvenient for long-distance transportation has been effectively solved.

"We expect to produce 1,000 tons of quick-frozen bamboo shoots and achieve an output value of more than 30 million yuan this year." Su Hui said that at present, they have realized batch purchases of bamboo shoots in towns and townships such as Minzhu, Rongding, Dazhubao and Yonghong in Mabian, which can solve the sales volume of about 3,000 tons of fresh bamboo shoots. "All of these will effectively help bamboo shoot farmers increase their income."

At the same time, the rich orders have also brought good employment opportunities. At present, nearly 200 workers in the company mainly come from various towns and townships in Mabian, and are mainly left-behind women and Yi compatriots. Many people have achieved the goal of working "at their doorsteps".

"At present, we still have a labor shortage of about 40 people." Su Hui said that currently the company's order volume is approaching 80% of the production capacity. Facing the growing market demand, the company will steadily promote the construction of the second and third workshops according to the existing production rhythm, and actively cooperate with the county to build the Mabian Bamboo Shoots Deep Processing Industrial Park, deeply explore the potential of Mabian bamboo shoots, and strive to make the "golden signboard" of Mabian bamboo shoots even more shiny. "At that time, our labor demand should be further increased."

When talking about the next plan, Su Hui revealed that with the continuous expansion of business and the construction of new workshops, in order to meet the production needs, the company has started to plan to recruit personnel for various positions including general workers, quality department managers and research and development managers. It is hoped that by recruiting excellent talents, the team strength can be further strengthened, the production efficiency and product quality can be improved, so as to better meet the market challenges and achieve the sustainable development of the company. (Text/Photo: Gan Guojiang, Zhong Keyan, Tao Yun)