Industry deals signed at hotpot festival in Chongqing

Ten deals related to the hotpot industry chain worth more than 5.3 billion yuan ($724 million) were signed at the opening ceremony of the 15th China Hotpot and Food Culture Festival and the 8th China International Hotpot Industry Expo on Friday in "China's hotpot city" Chongqing.

The three-day event, which celebrates the city's famous spicy cuisine, Chongqing hotpot, has attracted over 1,000 industry chain enterprises and a tremendous amount of lucky foodies at the Chongqing Yuelai International Exhibition Center, the organizing committee said.

With an exhibition area of around 100,000 square meters, the expo showcases more than 5,000 hotpot specialty products and the entire hotpot industry chain, including food ingredients, soup bases, seasoning, premade food, equipment, sales brands, and supporting industries and services.

More than 20 activities will be held, such as the 2023 China Hotpot Food Ingredient Industry Development Conference, the 2023 China Hotpot Industry Innovation Conference, the 2023 Restaurant Industry Summit of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, and the country's first skills competition for hotpot chefs.

The festival features an extra large hotpot, which is 10 meters in diameter and 1.06 meters tall, and weighs 13 metric tons. It can serve 56 people at the same time.

The pot is divided into two parts, with one containing a lightly flavored broth and the other a spicy broth, and it is decorated with a miniature of the city. It is said to be the world's largest hotpot.

According to the Chongqing Hotpot Association, there are more than 32,000 hotpot restaurants in the municipality, with an annual revenue of nearly 60 billion yuan ($9.4 billion) and at least 800,000 employees.

Statistics from customs show that the average annual export of Chongqing's spicy hotpot soup base reaches 900 tons, serving 22 countries and regions.