Pre-packaged dishes from Guangdong are selling like hotcakes overseas, with annual exports reaching 31.7 billion yuan.

"I didn't expect that foreigners would like pre - made dishes so much."

Produced by | Cross - border Dark Horse   Author | Song Tao 

01 Pre - made Dishes are Well - received Overseas

Pre - made dishes, which are not well - received in China, have been served on foreigners' dining tables after going abroad and have won wide acclaim.

In recent years, Guangdong's pre - made dishes have been booming in the overseas market and have become the favorites of many consumers. Pre - made dish products with distinct Guangdong characteristics, such as Shunde fish skin dumplings, casserole dishes, and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, are selling well in the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and other places, and are highly favored by local consumers. Data shows that in 2024, the total export value of Guangdong's pre - made dishes through all ports reached 31.7 billion yuan, and the products are available on all six continents around the world. This achievement is remarkable.  

Strong Overseas Expansion   Source: China National Radio Network

There are multiple reasons for the popularity of Guangdong's pre - made dishes in the overseas market. One very important point is that with the accelerating pace of life, convenience has become an important consideration for modern consumers when choosing food.

Pre - made dishes are easy to operate. Just heat them up or do some simple cooking according to the instructions, and you can enjoy a delicious meal in a few to more than ten minutes. For busy office workers, students, and those who are not good at cooking, pre - made dishes are undoubtedly the ideal choice. Overseas, many international students, Chinese overseas and ethnic Chinese find it difficult to cook a Chinese meal carefully due to their busy study and work. The emergence of pre - made dishes allows them to quickly taste the flavor of home.

"One must be strong oneself to forge iron." A large part of the reason why Guangdong's pre - made dishes are so popular is that they can fully present the freshness, delicacy and rich flavors of traditional Cantonese cuisine to overseas consumers. Coupled with the increasingly mature production technology, many enterprises use cutting - edge technologies such as vacuum freeze - drying and modified atmosphere preservation to ensure that pre - made dishes can still maintain good quality during long - distance transportation and long - term storage, and you can still taste the delicious flavor in pre - made dishes.

In fact, in the track of pre - made dishes going overseas, there has long been a group of sensitive players who smelled the business opportunity first and carved out their own niche in the overseas market, such as Anjoy, CP Group, Sanquan, etc. Take Anjoy as an example. On July 4, 2025, Anjoy Foods Group Co., Ltd. was officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Being able to list frozen food on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange shows its remarkable strength.  

Anjoy's Listing   Source: Anjoy's Official Website

02 Unlimited Opportunities in Cross - border E - commerce

The successful case of Guangdong's pre - made dishes going overseas provides an important inspiration for cross - border e - commerce sellers: in the cross - border e - commerce market full of infinite possibilities, opportunities are often hidden in seemingly insignificant corners. Many products that perform mediocrely and have low popularity in the domestic market can often become hits in the overseas market with their unique advantages once they go abroad.

In the smart home field, the smart bean sprout machine has staged a wonderful drama of "being more popular abroad than at home". In the domestic market, due to the fast - paced life of consumers and the sufficient supply of fresh bean sprouts in the market, the sales of smart bean sprout machines have been lukewarm. But in the overseas market, the bean sprout machine has become a veritable internet - famous product. Searching for relevant products on Amazon, you can see that many product links show "Limited Stock". It is worth mentioning that an automatic bean sprout machine invented by a veteran from Weifang, Shandong has not only been exported to countries such as the United States and Singapore, but also been taken on board the Liaoning aircraft carrier. In 2017, the annual output value of the company reached tens of millions.

Bean Sprout Machines are Exported to Overseas Markets   Source: Kehua Group's Official Website

It's not easy to create cross - border hits, but there are also many hot - selling products that have gone global. There is a category that most people can hardly imagine could become a hot - selling product in the overseas market, especially considering the taboos in China, and that is funeral supplies. Moreover, the domestic funeral supplies market is relatively traditional. Consumers prefer to buy in offline physical stores, and their requirements for the styles and functions of funeral supplies are relatively simple, so the online sales are not very popular.

But in the overseas market, especially in European and American countries, the online market for funeral supplies is very broad. Searching for "ancestor money" (what foreigners call hell money) on cross - border e - commerce platforms, you can see that the selling price of hell money is much higher than that in the domestic market. A stack of hell money that only costs a few yuan in China can sell for as high as 7 to 20 US dollars on Amazon. Even at such a high price, it still can't stop foreigners' enthusiasm for buying.

Hell Money with Doubled Price   Source: Amazon

It is worth mentioning that hell money is not only popular on e - commerce platforms, but also has a high topic popularity on the social media platform TikTok. Many foreign netizens have shared videos of themselves burning hell money. Some people say that burning Chinese hell money has brought them good luck. Some netizens have specially set up "money - burning teaching classes" to explain how to fold hell money and how to arrange items on the sacrificial table, just to increase the probability of their wishes coming true. Such a scene is rarely seen in the domestic market.

These cases fully illustrate that the cross - border e - commerce market is full of opportunities. As long as sellers are good at discovery and exploration, they can find products that have low popularity in China but great potential abroad. Cross - border e - commerce sellers should have an in - depth understanding of the cultures, consumption habits and market demands of different countries and regions, make targeted improvements and innovations to products, and through precise marketing and high - quality services, carve out their own niche in the overseas market.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Cross - border Dark Horse", author: Song Tao. It is published with permission.