In 2025, as the global trade landscape undergoes profound changes, China's dehydrated horseradish industry is demonstrating significant advantages in the international market with its unique resource endowment, technological innovation, and market adaptability. As a unique agricultural product that combines seasoning and health attributes, dehydrated horseradish not only embodies the essence of Chinese culinary culture, but also serves as a bridge connecting the taste buds of global consumers.
The dehydrated horseradish industry in China has formed a complete vertical integration chain. In the planting link, the main production areas such as Northeast Black Land and North China Plain have realized the full process control of seed screening, intelligent irrigation, and green pest control through the construction of standardized planting bases. Data shows that by 2025, the planting area of horseradish will increase by 38% compared to 2020, and the yield per unit area will increase by 22%, thanks to the deep application of "Internet of Things+Agriculture" technology. Advanced processes such as vacuum freeze-drying and microwave-assisted dehydration have been introduced in the processing stage, resulting in a retention rate of 92% for thiocyanate in the product, far exceeding traditional hot air drying technology. What is more noteworthy is that the industrial chain has extended to the field of deep processing, and the proportion of high value-added products such as horseradish essential oil and ready to eat horseradish slices has exceeded 40%. This product structure optimization directly promotes the increase in export average prices.
The global trend of healthy eating has opened up new market space for dried horseradish in China. Modern medical research has confirmed that the isothiocyanates contained in horseradish have significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which is highly in line with the strong demand for functional foods in the European and American markets. At the 2025 European Food Additives Expo, the organic certified dried horseradish powder launched by Chinese exhibitors has received purchasing intentions from multiple multinational food companies, with a year-on-year increase of 65% in order volume. In the Japanese and Korean markets, while the demand for traditional condiments has maintained a steady growth, cross-border products such as horseradish beauty facial mask and health capsules have also emerged. The diversified expansion of this consumption scenario has made the structure of China's dried horseradish export market more balanced.
The deep integration of cross-border e-commerce and China Europe freight trains has reconstructed the global logistics network of dehydrated horseradish. Cross border e-commerce pilot zones in Zhengzhou, Chongqing and other places have established specialized overseas warehouses for horseradish products, achieving fast delivery within 72 hours to the European and American markets. The normalized operation of the China Europe freight train "Horseradish Express" has reduced transportation costs by 60% compared to air freight, but shortened the delivery time by 40 days compared to sea freight. This multi-dimensional trade channel innovation effectively counteracts the impact of the Trump administration's tariffs. It is worth noting that the construction of the "Digital Silk Road" led by China has enabled chopped horseradish export enterprises to achieve full traceability through blockchain technology, which directly enhances the purchasing confidence of overseas customers.
Faced with increasingly strict pesticide residue standards from the European Union and Japan, China's chopped horseradish industry has established a "trinity" quality assurance system. In terms of source control, low pesticide residue absorbing varieties have been cultivated through gene editing technology; In the production process, supercritical fluid extraction technology reduces the residual heavy metal content in the product to below 0.02ppm; In the field of detection, AI based rapid screening systems can complete 300 indicator tests within 30 seconds. This technological breakthrough has enabled China's chopped horseradish to smoothly enter the high-end market of the European Union, with a year-on-year increase of 89% in exports to Germany by 2025. In the field of organic food certification, it has also achieved a leap from "following" to "leading".
When horseradish meets China-Chic, traditional condiments take on new vitality. The "Oriental Spicy Charm" gift box launched by brands such as Lee Kum Kee and Lao Gan Ma combines chopped horseradish with cultural elements such as calligraphy and porcelain, creating an annual sales revenue of over 200 million yuan for a single product in the Southeast Asian market. More noteworthy is the landing of the Horseradish Cultural Experience Hall in cities such as Tokyo and New York, which has increased the brand awareness of Chinese horseradish through taste experience workshops, molecular cuisine exhibitions, and other forms. This cultural empowerment strategy has enabled the export unit price of chopped horseradish from China to be 30% higher than similar products, yet it still maintains strong market competitiveness.
Looking ahead to the future, China's chopped horseradish industry needs to continue to make efforts in three aspects: first, deepen the application of "blockchain+big data" in the supply chain and enhance the transparency of the entire process; Second, strengthen cooperation with the "the Belt and Road" countries in the field of horseradish planting technology, and build a regional industrial alliance; Thirdly, actively participate in the formulation of international standards and promote the establishment of a global horseradish quality certification system based on Chinese standards. Against the backdrop of rising trade protectionism, China's chopped horseradish industry is sailing towards a broader blue ocean market with innovation as the oar and culture as the sail.
Post time: May-15-2025