The Manila Times

Booming fruit trade shows China-Asean cooperation

NANNING, China: For Chen Jiqing, a fruit trader in the city of Dongxing, in China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous REGION, HIS fiRST MEMORY of Southeast Asian fruits were the rambutan, mango and coconut brought by foreign traders near the border trade market when he was a child.

“There were only a few varieties and quantities of fruits from [Southeast Asian] countries at that time. Most of these fruits had to be sold out that day or they wouldn’t be fresh,” Chen said.

At that time, due to backward logistics and fresh-keeping technology, fruits from those countries were generally only sold in border areas.

Nowadays, cross-border fruit trade supported by express lines and coldchain logistics has already replaced small-scale fruit trade in those areas.

Chen’s company is already one of the largest fruit trading enterprises in Dongxing. During the peak season of durian production, the firm can ship more than 40 containers of fresh durian to China’s inland provinces in a month.

In 2004, China imported $300 million worth of fruits from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). In 2001, China imported $15.22 billion of dried and fresh fruits and nuts, of which Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia accounted for more than 60 percent.

Thanks to the vigorous development of economic and trade relations between China and the regional bloc, Chongzuo in Guangxi — which shares a border with Vietnam — has become the largest city for trading fruits in the East Asian country. The tropical fruits it imports account for over half in China.

In Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanning and other cities in China, snacks, cakes, drinks and other products made from durian, dragon fruit, mango, longan and other Southeast Asian fruits have become popular in recent years, enriching the table of Chinese consumers. Some food enterprises have also explored opportunities in this trade.

In Guangxi’s capital Nanning, a bakedgoods brand popular on electronic commerce platforms sees the opportunity brought by the booming fruit trade between China and the Asean. It produces durian cakes made from imported durian.

Tang Chunlong, deputy general manager of Guangxi Xuanma Food Co., Ltd., said the firm’s durian cakes retain the fruit’s freshness and could be produced and shipped to customers on the same day after receiving orders from e-commerce platforms. These cakes are now sold across the country.

The cakes became popular as soon as they were launched in 2019. Annual sales increased from 800,000 yuan (about $115,280) at the beginning to more than 10 million yuan in 2021. Inspired by the popularity of durian cakes, the company plans to develop more baked goods with fruits from Southeast Asian countries as raw materials.

Thanks to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor — a trade and logistics passage that has the city of Chongqing as the key operation center — Southeast Asian fruits could be transported to more of China’s inland areas.

“In the past, via traditional logistics routes, Asean goods had to be transferred to local ports first, then to eastern cities of China by sea, before being transported to the western region of China via domestic trunk logistics. It took a long time,” said Mai Liang with China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone Qinzhou Port Area Development and Investment Group Co. Ltd. “The problem was that shipping costs were high and it took too much time, making it difficult for fresh Asean fruits to reach the dining table of Chinese consumers quickly.”

Today, the logistics network of the new land-sea corridor in western China has been expanded, forming three main lines in the east, middle and west; and different logistics forms, including rail-sea transport. The destinations of the corridor have been expanded to 319 ports in 107 countries and regions.

FOREIGN BUSINESS: CHINA

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2022-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281951726677139

The Manila Times