Chongqing- Beijing's Xinfadi wholesale market invested 12 billion yuan (about 1.8 billion U.S. dollars) with Banan district, Chongqing, for ASEAN international food industrial park on July 22.

"We will deepen our business in Banan and make it more competitive," said Zhang Yuxi, chairman of the Xinfadi wholesale market.

The signing ceremony of major cooperation agreements on the 4th WCIFIT. (iChongqing file photo)

3.5 billion yuan investment this year

Xinfadi is not just any wholesale market in Beijing – it is the market. It has the highest sales volume of any wholesale agricultural market in Asia.

The investment contract was inked at the signing ceremony of major cooperation agreements at the 4th Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade (WCIFIT), aiming to expand the ASEAN international food industrial park, which already received 8.5 billion yuan last year. This round investment is 3.5 billion yuan.

With a total investment of 12 billion yuan, the industrial park will cover 1,594 mu (about 1.1 million square meters), and the trade value will hit 75 billion yuan annually. With the advantage of Xinfadi's distribution channels, the industrial park will integrate Chongqing's resources and international food, fruit and vegetables, frozen products, and aquatic products, forming an innovative supply model linked with the ASEAN market and covering nationwide industrial chains.

"We increase our investment because we are confident about the western China market and the ASEAN market as well as the development of Chongqing and its Banan District," said Zhang Yuxi, chairman of the Xinfadi wholesale market, at the signing ceremony. "We will deepen our business in Banan and make it more competitive."

"The industrial park is expected to be operational before 2025," added Zhang. "Meanwhile, it will deepen cooperation with Chongqing and facilitate more industrial chain projects to settle in the city."

Further cooperation between Chongqing and ASEAN

The industrial park will benefit Chongqing's fresh agriculture products, cold-chain logistics, and radiation to southwestern China. It will leverage Xinfadi's distribution channel strength in the ASEAN region and Banan's cross-border highway shuttles to promote foreign trade, which will further deepen cooperation between Chongqing and ASEAN and reinforce the link with the ASEAN market and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involvement.

Chongqing Nanpeng Highway Bonded Logistics Center. (iChongqing file photo)

Aside from the industrial park, Beijing Xinfadi signed a contract with Banan on an intelligent widow and door production base project on the same day.

Since this year, focusing on the internet of things, new energy vehicles, and medical equipment, Banan has listed nearly 100 targeted investors, including research institutes or think tanks, standard setting institutions, monitoring, and testing institutions, and equipment manufacturers.

In the first half of 2022, Banan invited 70 projects to strengthen its supply chains, including Zhirui Bio's international biology industry innovation incubation center, Danhuang Technology's "BT + IT" innovation incubation center, and intelligent agricultural machinery industrial technology research institutes. Ten of them exceeded 1 billion yuan. The contract valuer reached 44.3 billion yuan, laying a solid foundation for stable economic growth.