Dehydrated vegetables are dried vegetables made by washing and drying fresh vegetables to remove most of the water in the vegetables. Dehydrated vegetables retain the nutrients of vegetables to the greatest extent, and are light in weight, small in size, easy to transport and store, and are favored by the market. However, due to the high output and sufficient supply of vegetables across the country, the market demand for dehydrated vegetables is relatively low, and they are mainly used in special scenarios.
Dehydrated vegetables are divided into natural drying and artificial dehydration. Among them, there are many kinds of artificial dehydration technologies for dehydrated vegetables, mainly microwave drying methods, hot air drying methods, puffing drying methods, and vacuum drying methods. The natural drying method is the earliest production method of dehydrated vegetables. The process is simple, but large-scale production cannot be achieved, and it has been eliminated at present. At present, dehydrated vegetables mainly use the freeze-vacuum drying method and the hot air drying method. Among them, the freeze-vacuum drying method is relatively advanced in technology, which can not only retain the color and flavor of vegetables, but also quickly rehydrate, and is the main production technology in the future.
China is a big country in vegetable cultivation and production, with a large area of vegetable cultivation. In 2020, the vegetable planting area in my country is about 21.4 million hectares. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the domestic government supports the development of the vegetable processing industry, and the domestic vegetable planting area will still show an increasing trend, reaching 11.84 million hectares in 2021. With the growth of vegetable planting area, domestic vegetable production has also continued to rise, reaching 760 million tons in 2020 and about 790 million tons in 2021. The increase in vegetable production is conducive to the development of the dehydrated vegetable industry.
According to the "2021-2025 China Dehydrated Vegetable Market Feasibility Study Report" released by New Citrix, the output of vegetables in my country is relatively high, but vegetables are difficult to store for a long time under normal temperature conditions. To ensure the freshness of vegetables and reduce transportation costs, the dehydrated vegetable industry has developed rapidly. In recent years, dehydration technology has continued to penetrate the vegetable field, and the domestic output of dehydrated vegetables has continued to rise, from 332,000 tons in 2018 to 414,000 tons in 2020, and 414,000 tons by the end of 2021. 45. About 30,000 tons.
Dehydrated vegetables in China are distributed in many provinces, of which large and efficient enterprises are concentrated in Shandong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, and other provinces. Shandong Province is a major vegetable-producing province in China. The output of dehydrated vegetables is relatively high, and the export volume accounts for about 34% of the total domestic exports of dehydrated vegetables.
There are many kinds of domestic vegetables. At present, vegetables such as mushrooms and fungus are mainly dried by natural air drying, while cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, and carrots are mostly made by freezing and vacuum drying. Among them, garlic is the most exported product of domestic dehydrated vegetables. The production cost of dehydrated vegetables in developed countries is relatively high, while domestic dehydrated vegetables are more cost-effective. Therefore, domestic dehydrated vegetables have been exported to overseas markets. In 2020, the export volume of dried vegetables and mixed vegetables in my country will be about 30,000 tons.
Dehydrated vegetables are one of the processing methods of vegetables, which not only retains the flavor of vegetables but also retains nutrients, so it is favored by the market. Due to the high output of vegetables in my country and the sufficient supply of vegetables in various provinces, dehydrated vegetables are mainly used in the field of convenience food, and the demand is lower than that for fresh vegetables. There are many domestic dry vegetable manufacturers. Shandong Province is the leading producing province of dehydrated vegetables in my country. Products not only meet the domestic market demand but are also exported overseas.