Zhengzhou-based instant noodle maker Baixiang Food Group said it aims to develop more tasty products with better raw materials and noodle-making techniques. The company uses a special technique to freezedry noodles at -30 C to lock the nutrients in fresh noodles. When cooking, the noodles will be able to restore the original taste and texture after boiling.

Wang Yanli, deputy general manager of the R&D center of Baixiang Food, said that the company is increasing its investment in research and development by building more advanced labs, upgrading facilities, and attracting more talents. The company has also established research institutes in South Korea and Japan, she said.

"We developed buckwheat instant noodles and kept improving its taste, to cater to the group who would like to eat more healthy food and keep fit. Besides, promoting the products through livestreaming sessions online is also part of our sales focus," said Wang.

Meanwhile, Jinmailang, a Hebei-based instant noodle maker, saw its sales in June rise by 50 percent on a yearly basis. Its sales growth rates have been among the highest among domestic instant noodle makers for 13 quarters in a row.

Liu Jian, product director of Jinmailang, said: "Consumers who were born after 1990 and 1995 have become the major consumer group for convenience food and we need to keep innovating the products to meet the demand of the younger generation."

During the first six months of this year, the instant noodle sector in China saw its overall sales volume edge up by 5.6 percent on a yearly basis. Overall sales revenue increased by 11.5 percent on a yearly basis, according to market research firm Nielsen.

With a growing number of young people being the main consumers in the country, the convenience food sector is expected to see a five-year period of high-speed growth, said Zhu Danpeng, a food industry analyst.

Besides instant noodles, spiral shell rice noodles, a specialty of Liuzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has also gained huge popularity at home and abroad since the outbreak of the pandemic.

From January to June, total sales of packaged spiral shell rice noodles in the autonomous region stood at 4.98 billion yuan. From January to July, the export value of the food exceeded 15 million yuan, which was significantly higher than the total export value recorded last year, according to the local customs department.

The spiral shell rice noodles, which taste spicy and include bamboo shoots, beans and fungus as ingredients, have been mainly exported to the United States, Australia and Europe. This year, the products also entered some new overseas markets such as Singapore and New Zealand.

With longer working hours, more urbanites spend less time doing housework and more time relaxing, and they prefer to buy ready-to-cook food. The core for retailers to achieve sustainable growth is that their instant noodle products should be tasty and healthy, said consultancy Roland Berger.

The products of many convenience food brands can come close to tastes found in restaurants and they have developed more varieties that can satisfy the demands of the younger generation, it said.

Contact the writer at zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn