Bei'an turns goose industry into new engine for rural revitalization

From a scattered network of small-scale goose farms to a fully integrated industry spanning breeding, processing and consumer products, Bei'an, a county-level city in Heilongjiang province, is turning its goose resources into a new engine for rural revitalization.

Ai Hongpeng, general manager of Bei'an Tengyun Livestock Breeding Cooperative, said the city had goose-raising businesses in the past, but they were few in number and mostly consisted of small-scale household farms rather than large-scale operations.

In recent years, local officials began making the goose economy a key project for the city, aiming to build a complete industrial chain spanning hatching, slaughtering, food processing and feather processing. Bei'an now has 59 large-scale goose farms alone. A goose hatchery affiliated with the cooperative has an annual hatching capacity of 3 million, with hatching volumes steadily increasing year by year, Ai said.

A goose economy industrial park was launched in Bei'an in 2024 with investment from The Sea Feather Limited Company of Lu'an in Anhui province. It has attracted upstream and downstream companies, including Heilongjiang Haipeng Goose Industry Development Co and Heilongjiang Yujin Clothing Co.

The industrial park is divided into Zones A and B. Zone A focuses on extending the processing chain for goose down and feathers, with a total investment of 35 million yuan ($5.2 million). It has established projects for apparel, down comforters and badminton manufacturing.

Since 2024, the zone has successfully developed more than 20 winter down products combining high thermal insulation with comfort. Annual production capacity has reached 50,000 down jackets and 70,000 other garments. In 2026, a new down-comforter production line was built, with annual capacity of 30,000 high-end down comforters.

The badminton manufacturing project was completed and put into operation in December 2025. It can consume 100 million goose feathers a year and produce 6 million shuttlecocks. Its products include standard badminton shuttlecocks and high-end competition-grade shuttlecocks for professional venues, serving the domestic market and being exported to South Korea.

Zone B focuses on the primary processing segment of the goose industry, with total investment of 81.5 million yuan. It includes goose slaughtering and processing, roast goose processing, and goose-down sorting and processing projects.

The goose slaughtering and roast goose processing project was completed following renovation in August. It is designed to slaughter 10 million geese a year and produce 360 metric tons of roast goose and 150 metric tons of other cooked food products.

This year, 30 million yuan has been invested in the park to build the largest goose-down collection, sorting and processing base of its kind in Heilongjiang province. The facility is designed to process 800 metric tons of raw goose feathers annually and produce 160 metric tons of high-quality 90 percent, 95 percent and 98 percent goose down.

The industrial park generated revenue of 170 million yuan in 2025, and the revenue is expected to reach 310 million yuan in 2026, creating 300 jobs.