It consumes the most pork, poultry and mutton, and its consumption of beef and veal is second only to the United States.

它消费的猪肉、家禽和羊肉最多，牛肉和小牛肉的消费量仅次于美国。

A string of time-honored brands, including Quanjude Roast Duck, Daoxiangcun pastries, Yueshengzhai, a brand selling pickled beef and mutton for more than 230 years, are among those that are available on the platform.

Additionally, in the agricultural sector, the autonomous region ranks sixth in grain production and leads the nation in production volumes of milk, mutton, beef and cashmere, Huang said.

Meanwhile, the wholesale prices of pork rose 2.5 percent week on week to 22.47 yuan ($3.12) per kilogram, while those of beef and mutton fell 0.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

The price of pork, for instance, declined 2.7 percent, while that of beef increased 0.5 percent and mutton remained unchanged.

"Qingyang's green, high-quality, safe and healthy agricultural products — including apples, minor cereals, day lilies, mutton and related products — have wide market prospects.

Beef and fruits posted lower prices while prices of edible oil and mutton remained unchanged during the same period.

"Frozen pork, beef and mutton will be released from central reserves in batches to increase meat supply during the upcoming holiday," the spokeswoman added.

The production of other major farm produce such as beef, mutton, poultry meat, milk and aquatic products also increased in the period, and the supply of vegetables and fruit was sufficient, Zeng said.

The wholesale price of mutton edged down 1 percent, and that of beef dropped 0.4 percent.

On a weekly basis, the average wholesale price of pork, a staple meat in China, dropped 5.2 percent to 28.86 yuan ($4.5) per kg, and that of mutton fell 0.3 percent to 76.73 yuan per kg.

The wholesale price of mutton went up 0.2 percent, while that of beef edged up 0.1 percent.

The main consumer varieties include beef and mutton, aquatic products and fruits, with the import value increasing by 3 times, 70.1 times and 38.5 percent, respectively.

Nowadays, supplies of high-quality beef and mutton rely more and more on imports.

The eatery, at the southern end of Huimin Street, is renowned for its paomo (shredded pita bread soaked in mutton or beef soup).

The young demographic tends to buy fresh ingredients from e-commerce platforms, with sales of beef, mutton and shrimp surging 153 percent, 130 percent and 182 percent year-on-year, respectively, since December, Taobao said.

For instance, people in Zhejiang province prefer to buy mutton from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, while those in southern provinces fancy seafood caught from Chagan Lake in Songyuan, Northeast China's Jilin province, Zhang said.

Afterward, visitors may choose to spend a night or two in farmhouses and enjoy homemade meals like roast mutton kebabs.

Biz owners receive more capital but still need to beat some challengesOnce the mutton skewers began to sizzle on the barbecue, children at a campsite in Beijing gathered around, eyeing the fat, juicy, slightly burnt mutton to be slid onto their plates.

Because of rising feed prices, limited grazing land and the breeding cycle, China's cattle-raising sector lags behind consumer demand, resulting in higher beef and mutton prices over the past decade, said Ding Lixin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.

"As China has found it impossible to grow all of the food it needs and has consequently formed closer ties with the global food market, demand for beef, mutton, pork, fruit, wine and dairy products will certainly offer many opportunities for major exporters of agricultural products such as Spain, Ireland, Chile, Argentina and the United States," he said.

Experts, company chiefs call for reduced reliance on importsWhen it comes to buying and eating meat, Chinese have a clear preference for pork, favoring it over beef, mutton and fish.

The company will join hands with Jubaoyuan, a famous traditional Peking hot pot restaurant, to launch meal packages, which include hand-cut beef, mutton and sesame pancakes.

The wholesale price of pork declined 3.1 percent to 44.13 yuan ($6.55) per kg, with the prices of beef down 0.1 percent and the prices of mutton up 0.2 percent.

Liu Jiangping, an official from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the two countries have established close cooperation in trading agricultural commodities including wheat, soybean, beef and mutton.

Jacky Wang, procurement director with Huaqiang Shines Industrial Development (Dalian) Co Ltd, said that prices of beef and mutton imported into China soared some 30 percent in the past year while volume also increased some 20 percent.

The company sources beef and mutton from various countries including Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay and Argentina, to China.

The wholesale price of mutton stood at 63.62 yuan per kg last week, edging up 0.5 percent from a week earlier.

"In the fourth quarter, poultry products are expected to witness a better growth rate, while beef and mutton output will grow steadily," he said.

The output of poultry, beef and mutton all rose during the nine-month period, reaching 15.39 million metric tons, 4.58 million tons and 3.3 million tons, respectively, he said.

Liu said the large drones can deliver high-value and seasonal specialties such as beef, mutton, fresh dates and Goji berries in Ningxia to consumers across the nation in a timely and reliable fashion.

Since October, the service has become widely popular among farmers in Linhe, China's largest county-level producer of sheep for mutton, and an important processing base of flour and sunflower seeds.