Potato flour, serving as a key ingredient with low fat, low sugar, low calories, and high protein, largely preserves the vitamins and minerals found in potatoes. It has become an essential raw material for a variety of food products, including compound potato chips, puffed foods, infant nutrition products, fast food, and biscuits.

With the advancement of the potato staple food strategy, China's potato flour industry has developed in a clustered manner. Regions such as Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Hebei have leveraged their respective advantages to form distinct industrial belts with unique regional characteristics.

01 Overview of the Industrial Landscape: A Tripartite Division

After years of development, China's potato flour industry has formed a pattern dominated by Inner Mongolia and Gansu, with Hebei and Heilongjiang as supplementary regions.

These major production areas have established their own specialized potato flour processing systems based on their resources and industrial foundations.

As one of the country's top four potato-producing regions, Inner Mongolia and Gansu play a leading role in the national potato flour industry.

Inner Mongolia ranks among the top in comprehensive production capacity nationwide. Its seed potato cultivation area and output both hold the first place in the country, with virus-free seed potato transactions accounting for over 35% of the national total. Its potato flour production constitutes about 35% of the national output.

Gansu is an important commercial potato production base and potato product processing base in China. As of 2021, the standardized planting area of potatoes reached over 2 million acres, with seed potato production area reaching 540,000 acres.

As an emerging production area, Hebei is rapidly rising with its geographical advantages and advanced technology. For example, Hebei Junsheng Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. has an annual production capacity of 12,000 tons of potato snowflake flour.

02 Inner Mongolia Industrial Belt: Driven by Scale and Technology

Relying on the two major production areas along the Yinshan Mountains and the Greater Khingan Mountains, the potato flour industry in Inner Mongolia has formed a significant scale effect and technological advantages.

The core competitiveness of Inner Mongolia's "Potato Capital" is reflected in multiple aspects:

• Raw Material Advantage: The average yield per acre of fresh potatoes in Inner Mongolia reaches 3,274 pounds, higher than the national average of 645 pounds. The starch and dry matter content are 1-2 percentage points higher than the national average, providing high-quality raw materials for potato flour processing.

• Industrial Scale: Shangdu County has formed a "1+2+N" integrated potato industry chain model, which includes government leadership, two leading deep-processing enterprises (Fujingtang and Xisen), and participation from multiple planting cooperatives and large-scale farmers. Currently, the county boasts an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of potato flour.

• Policy Support: Inner Mongolia's "Potato Six Articles" policy comprehensively promotes the quality improvement and upgrading of the potato industry from six aspects: seed potato breeding, yield improvement, cold storage and freshness preservation, brand building, technological support, and financial assistance.

03 Gansu Industrial Belt: Prominent Full Industry Chain Advantages

As one of the top four potato-producing regions in China, Gansu has developed, over the years, a complete industry chain integrating seed potato breeding, planting, processing, storage, and marketing.

The competitiveness of the Gansu industrial belt is mainly reflected in:

• Breeding and Technological Advantages: Gansu has cultivated distinctive potato production优势 regions, such as the central high-starch and vegetable-type region, and the Hexi and along the Yellow River irrigation areas for potato flour and chip processing. Gansu produces 1.3 billion units of original seed potatoes. It is estimated that the potato planting area and output in Gansu will reach 10.2 million acres and 15 million tons, respectively, both ranking second in the country.

• Processing Cluster: Gansu has established over 100 large-scale potato processing enterprises, with an annual processing capacity of over 800,000 tons of potato products. The production capacity of refined starch accounts for about half of the national demand. Dingxi City, as the core potato production area in Gansu, has become the "Potato Capital of China."

• Technological Innovation: The potato staple food processing technology developed by the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences addresses the prominent issue of high costs associated with using potato flour as a raw material, reducing costs by over 50%. This technology has been applied in several enterprises such as Tianrunyuan and Shuxiangyuan.

04 Hebei Industrial Belt: Location Advantages Empower Emerging Forces

Although relatively young, the potato flour industry in Hebei is rapidly developing into an important industrial belt by leveraging its location advantages and modern equipment.

Taking Hebei Junsheng Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. as an example, the company was established in April 2024 with a total investment of 250 million RMB. It has an annual potato processing capacity of 70,000 tons and an annual production capacity of 12,000 tons of potato snowflake flour.

The differentiated advantages of the Hebei industrial belt include:

• Proximity to Consumer Markets: Located in the North China Plain, Hebei is close to the huge consumer market of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, resulting in low logistics costs and fast supply chain response.

• Advanced Technology and Equipment: Junsheng Agriculture possesses domestically advanced potato snowflake flour production lines, including stone removal cleaners, steam peelers, and drum dryers, ensuring the production of high-quality potato flour.

• Accurate Product Positioning: The Hebei production area mainly produces potato snowflake flour, a low-fat, low-sugar, low-calorie, and high-protein food ingredient that can be widely used in compound chips, puffed foods, infant nutrition products, and other fields.

05 Comparison of Core Competitiveness Among Industrial Belts

A comprehensive comparison of the three major industrial belts across five dimensions: raw material advantage, industrial scale, technological level, cost competitiveness, and logistics efficiency:

06 Procurement Decision Guide: Matching Needs with Suppliers

Cost-Priority Procurement: Suppliers from Inner Mongolia or Gansu are recommended. These regions have abundant raw material resources, high industrial concentration, significant scale effects, and relatively low production costs. Enterprises such as Xisen and Fujingtang Group in Shangdu County, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu's Lantian Potato, Shuxiangyuan, etc., have advantages in large output and low costs.

Quality-Priority Procurement: Leading enterprises in Inner Mongolia are more值得考虑. These enterprises have high-quality raw materials and advanced processing technology. For example, the potato flour produced by Inner Mongolia Xisen Company has stable quality, while Gansu Tianrunyuan and other enterprises offer high cost-effectiveness due to their strong technological innovation capabilities.

Service-Response Priority Procurement: Suppliers in Hebei have obvious advantages. Taking Junsheng Agriculture as an example, the company is close to consumer markets, with fast supply chain response speed, suitable for flexible procurement needs with small batches and multiple orders.

Diversified Needs Procurement: Suppliers in Shangdu County, Inner Mongolia, can be considered. Enterprises in this area not only produce potato flour but also develop new products such as potato raw pulp steamed buns and nutritional vinegar, meeting the diversified needs of purchasers.

With the implementation of potato industry policies across regions, the three major industrial belts are forming a clearer division of labor and collaboration. Inner Mongolia, supported by the "Potato Six Articles" policy, continues to promote industrial expansion and quality improvement.

Gansu aims to reach a potato planting area of 15 million acres and an entire industry chain output value of 50 billion RMB by 2025 through the implementation of the Potato Three-Year Doubling Action Plan.

Hebei continues to make efforts in the initial processing of potatoes, relying on geographical advantages and modern equipment.

The future competition in the potato flour industry will no longer be between single enterprises or products, but a comprehensive competition of the entire industry chain and supply chain.