A villager sorts navel oranges in Jiangnan Village of Yongle Township in Fengjie County, southwest China's Chongqing, Jan. 13, 2022. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chongqing - Recently, 15 tons of Fendgjie navel oranges have been shipped to Mauritius. This marks the beginning of citrus exports from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area this year.

Citrus is a representative agricultural export from Chongqing. As early as 10 years ago, citrus exports from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area began, but the volume was small, with only 200 tons exported annually. Now, annual citrus exports from the area have reached 7,500 tons, more than 30 times the volume of 10 years ago, injecting continuous momentum into the citrus industry and increasing farmers' income.

From 'grown in the fields' to 'sold globally'

In December 2014, a container containing 25 tons of Guhong tangerines from Wanzhou District was transported overnight by truck to Shenzhen, from where it was exported to Malaysia. This marked the first breakthrough in Chongqing's citrus export history.

According to a representative from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, although the export volume was small, it laid the foundation for direct citrus exports from the city. This not only boosted the confidence of major citrus-producing districts and counties in northeastern Chongqing, such as Fengjie, Yunyang, and Kaizhou, but also set the stage for Fengjie navel oranges, Kaizhou spring oranges, and other varieties to follow in the foot eps of Guhong tangerines, aiming for direct export.

Over the next decade, Wanzhou Customs under Chongqing Customs played a pivotal role in supporting the expansion of specialty agricultural and food product exports from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. It increased efforts in promoting customs qualification registration policies, helping eligible orchards such as those producing Fengjie navel oranges, Kaizhou spring oranges, and Zhongxian Zhong oranges quickly obtain approval.

Wanzhou Customs also guided citrus farmers in maintaining quality and safety control throughout the production process, including the use of agricultural chemicals, fruit harvesting, and processing and storage. Additionally, it provided related services to citrus enterprises targeting international markets.

From "grown in the fields" to "sold globally," today, Fengjie navel oranges from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area have been recognized as one of the top 100 regional public brands for agricultural products in China. Another four brands, such as Zhongxian citrus, have also been included in the national agricultural brand directory, with their combined brand value surpassing 30 billion yuan ($4.11 billion).

Currently, the total registered orchard area for export fruits from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area exceeds 31,000 mu (2066.67 hectares), with more than 30 registered varieties. The annual self-operated export volume has surpassed 7,500 tons, reaching over 20 countries and regions, including Malaysia and Thailand.

Zhongxian citrus: from 5 yuan/kg to 18 yuan/kg

In the past, when the citrus market was favorable, farmers often faced "reduced harvest worries" due to factors like low planting volumes and unfavorable weather, resulting in insufficient fruit for sale.

In recent years, with increasing support, as more orchards and farmers have emerged, there has also been an oversupply of citrus in the domestic market, leading to a "surplus worry" where prices drop, and fruits are unsold.

The low prices and unsold fruit led farmers to neglect orchard management, causing a decline in citrus quality, which then created a vicious cycle.

"For rural revitalization, farmers need to increase their income, and fruits need to be sold. This requires following both domestic and international market trends and effectively utilizing both markets," said Wu Xiaofang, Deputy Director of Wanzhou Customs.

According to Wu, to achieve high-quality, sustainable development for the citrus industry in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, expanding citrus exports is the key solution. "Expanding citrus exports can not only alleviate the supply-demand imbalance in the domestic citrus market and raise domestic prices, but it can also increase the added value of citrus, boosting farmers' incomes. It's a win-win solution."

Wanzhou Customs focused on the structural characteristics of agricultural and food products in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, implementing specific measures to support areas like certification development and quality system construction. It worked with other related authorities to secure export rewards and subsidies. For new export varieties and new export markets, Wanzhou Customs offered a series of services, including export training, technical and trade assistance, and streamlined customs procedures, boosting export businesses.

Since 2019, Chongqing Chunken Agricultural Development Co Ltd, which is located in Zhongxian County, has obtained certifications for export fruit orchards, export fruit packaging factories, and import/export consignee and shipper.

"In the past, our fruit could only sell for 5 yuan per kilogram in the fields. After obtaining these three certifications, we began to expand into international markets, actively seeking new sales channels and partners, allowing Zhongxian citrus to go global," said Qin Guilin, the company's general manager.

"Now, we directly export, and all the preparations before export are done locally in Zhongxian. This has created jobs for tens of thousands of farmers in processing, packaging, and transportation. Through these processes, related industries’ total value has risen to about 18 yuan per kilogram, which means that about 13 yuan per kilogram of labor value stays in Zhongxian."

The export of Zhongxian citrus has directly increased the income of more than 5,000 local farming households, with an average annual income increase of around 30,000 yuan per household.

"Our family has been growing citrus for two generations. In the past, we grew them for ourselves, but now citrus has become our 'golden fruit' for wealth," said Jiang Yun, a citrus farmer from Shibao Town in Zhongxian.

A representative from Wanzhou Customs stated that the customs will fully leverage its role to efficiently address the needs of citrus exports, listen to feedback and resolve issues. By continuously improving regulatory efficiency and service levels, it will provide strong support for expanding the export of citrus from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area in international markets.

Industrial transformation: from fresh fruit to agro-processing products

In Kaizhou, there is a company named Chongqing Tianbang Food Co Ltd. Last year, the company saw a dramatic increase in the export volume of its concentrated orange juice, which surged to over 1,000 tons.

The reason behind this spike is that countries like Brazil and Russia experienced reduced orange juice production due to disease and other factors, creating a large gap in market supply. This, in turn, drove foreign customers to shift their focus to China. As one of the main citrus-producing regions in the country, Chongqing naturally attracted many customers.

"There are not many companies in China that produce concentrated orange juice," said Chen Heying, Deputy General Manager of Tianbang Food. Thanks to the company's technological advantage in citrus processing, it was able to secure numerous export orders last year.

This success provides a direction for the future export potential of citrus from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area: expanding into agricultural product processing.

Chongqing has included food and agricultural product processing in its "33618" modern manufacturing cluster system, making it one of the city's three five-hundred-billion-yuan pillar industry clusters.

Chongqing's lemon industry serves as a model in this regard. After being punctured, lemon peel can be used to extract essential oils; the peeled lemon flesh can be juiced; lemon pulp can be processed into jams; and lemon seeds can be used to extract limonin, a substance with anti-cancer properties, which can be made into health products.

A representative from HDLemon, a leading lemon export company in Chongqing, stated that through deep processing, every part of the lemon is utilized with no waste. Currently, the company has developed over 300 lemon products across four categories: beverages, food, cosmetics, and health products.

Liu Kan, Director of the Foreign Trade Promotion Division at the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce, stated that, in the first half of this year, there were 34 registered fruit export bases in Chongqing. The city is guiding these enterprises to focus on deep processing, improving the added value of agricultural products, and enabling these export-oriented agricultural enterprises to participate in international competition through modern production methods. This will also help accelerate the development of related industries such as logistics and agro-product export trade.

(Yang Jun, a reporter from Chongqing Daily, contributed the Chinese version of this report.)