A Mixue store is located in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Photo/Xu Qin)

Chongqing - Mixue’s latest data shows its signature lemonades sold more than 1.5 billion cups between January and October 2025, a staggering scale supported by a lemon supply chain that stretches from Chongqing’s Tongnan district to consumers around the world.

As a well-known beverage brand in China, Mixue is popular for its low price. The company also accelerates its global expansion, with Southeast Asia emerging as a key market for its strategy. According to its updated prospectus released in February 2025, Mixue has become the largest ready-made tea drink brand in Southeast Asia.

The latest financial report indicates that, as of June 2025, Mixue’s global store count has surpassed 53,000, spanning across 12 countries. In Southeast Asia, the company has nearly 5,000 stores, with Indonesia and Vietnam accounting for over 3,000 of them, creating a dense consumer network.

To ensure the core quality of its lemon drinks, Mixue’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Xuewang Agriculture, has established a large-scale lemon cooperation base in Chongqing Tongnan. As Mixue expands globally, lemons from Tongnan have also boarded the “brand express,” making their way to overseas markets.

A representative from Xuewang Agriculture stated, “Tongnan’s flat terrain, mild climate, abundant rainfall, and location within the 30°N latitude—the golden planting belt—provide ideal natural conditions for producing the high-quality agricultural product, Tongnan lemons.”

By cultivating lemons, which are renowned for their size and taste, the lemons produced in Tongnan are among the best in the market. As a result, Xuewang Agriculture chose this location to establish its processing base.

Currently, Xuewang Agriculture’s lemon planting base in Tongnan spans 1,000 square kilometers. To solve the common problem in traditional farming, where production doesn’t always align with market demand, the company has adopted an “order-based agriculture” model.

Under this model, Xuewang Agriculture signs agreements with local farmers and cooperatives to ensure they will purchase lemons at an agreed price. The system ensures that farmers grow lemons in line with actual market demand, and the price depends on the fruit's quality. By leveraging Mixue’s global sales data, Xuewang Agriculture can more accurately forecast demand and ensure production aligns with market needs.

After harvest, the lemons are quickly transported to Xuewang Agriculture’s processing center, where they undergo three rounds of cleaning and disinfection. They are then sorted using high-speed infrared cameras and a dynamic weighing system, ensuring only lemons that meet both appearance and weight standards move to the next production stage.

The premium lemons selected after sorting are partly supplied to the domestic market, with the remainder directly sent to Mixue’s overseas stores. Leveraging the efficient logistics network of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), the lemons can reach destinations like Vietnam within 48 hours.

According to Xuewang Agriculture, in 2024, the company shipped over 4,000 tons of lemons overseas, serving more than 4,000 stores globally. In the first three quarters of 2025, the export value of Tongnan lemons grew by nearly 60% year-on-year.

The successful international expansion of Tongnan lemons unveils a new internationalization model—“accompanying export.” In this model, Chinese brands like Mixue expand globally alongside Chinese raw materials.

Under this approach, Chongqing lemons are no longer isolated local products but vital components of the global supply chain. This enhances Chongqing's agricultural sector's bargaining power on the international stage and strengthens its competitiveness in global markets.