China - June 25, 2024

Storyline:
Chinese waxberries delivered to more countries

(Voice_over)

Early in the morning, farmers in Qingtian County in east China's Zhejiang Province are busy harvesting waxberries.

Also known as bayberries, the fruit are sorted, packed and sent directly to the Shanghai airport where they're loaded onto cargo planes bound for Europe.

Staff from the export company say it now takes no more than 24 hours for Chinese waxberries to hit shelves in Madrid.

(Sound_bite)

Xia Xiaoqing, employee, local trade company:

"This shipment consists of a total of 450 boxes of waxberries for export to Spain. They were picked in the morning, packaged in the factory in the afternoon, and shipped to Shanghai in the evening, and should be able to arrive in Madrid in 24 hours."

(Voice_over)

Because the fruit has a short shelf life and is hard to store, the exporters have adopted advanced packaging technologies to keep them fresh during transport.

Besides Spain, exporters hope to introduce the deep red fruits to even more countries this year.

(Sound_bite)

Xia Xiaoqing, employee, local trade company:

"We will export them to more countries this year, like Britain, France, plus Singapore and Indonesia. So, the sales volume of this year is likely to double that of last year."

(Voice_over)

In 2023, the region exported more than 20 tons of waxberries, with sales reaching 370,000 euros.

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