The three substances are mainly used as sweetening additives in food.

Longlive Biotechnology Co Ltd is now the leading biologics company in Dezhou, with its xylitol sales ranking top in international markets. Other famous brands in the city also include Baolinbao, Heyou and Futian.

The city's Yucheng district is the core area for biological products production. In addition to a complete biological industrial chain, the district has strict environmental standards requiring low or pollution-free discharges from all its production enterprises.

To give a strong technological support for the industry, Wu said, the city has attached importance to innovative capacity building.

The city has more than 40 R&D facilities, including two State-level research centers, a State-level laboratory, 13 provincial research centers and a number of enterprise technology centers.

The rapid growth of the biologics industry has also driven the development of a number of related industries, such as agriculture and food processing.

The city is China's largest processing base for soybean protein and cottonseeds, annually transforming 2.2 million tons of soybeans and 1.6 million tons of cottonseeds into various products.

"In 2015, the sales revenue of the biological industry is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan, with pre-tax profits projected at 22 billion yuan. In 2020, the sales revenue is likely to surpass 180 billion yuan, with pre-tax profits estimated at 40 billion yuan," the mayor predicted.

By Wang Qian