The 2019 Global Hemp Industrial Development Forum was successfully held in Harbin, capital city of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, on Nov 23, according to the organizers.

Government officials, experts, academics and business representatives gathered to discuss hot topics and share the latest and most cutting-edge research on the hemp industry.

Hemp is used to make a variety of commercial and industrial products, including rope, textiles, clothing, shoes, food, paper, bioplastics, insulation, and biofuels.

Among the attendees were those from the US, Canada, Australia, India, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and Myanmar.

“The planting and processing of hemp is an industry that requires international cooperation,” said Liu Mingqian, general secretary of the Global Hemp Industry Alliance.

At present, several countries including the US, Canada and Thailand cultivate industrial hemp.

The forum discussed the advantages and strengths of the international hemp industry in all its aspects.

It also had presentations on the advanced international cultivation of hemp – as well as bringing the  processing and extraction technology to China to promote the development of country's hemp industry, Liu added.

Hemp is a dominant industry in Heilongjiang province. In 2017 alone, the industrial hemp planting area in Heilongjiang totaled over 19,000 hectares, the most given over to hemp in China.

At the forum, the government of Heilongjiang announced the establishment of China's first provincial-level industrial hemp industry services monitoring platform.

It is expected to help drive industrial hemp cultivation, planting, production, processing, transportation and distribution through extensive participation in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

The monitoring platform is expected to fundamentally solve the potential risks and problems of illegal cultivation, processing and circulation of industrial hemp.

The platform is expected to go online in March next year.
  The 2019 Global Hemp Industrial Development Forum is held in Harbin, capital city of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, on Nov 23. [Photo/chinanews.com]
   
Experts share their knowledge about planting hemp with visitors to the 2019 Global Hemp Industrial Development Forum in Harbin, capital city of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, on Nov 23. [Photo/chinanews.com]