First-ever pineapple shipment from Xuwen county reaches DPRK

Recently, 16 metric tons of fresh pineapples successfully arrived at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea after passing local customs inspection and quarantine. The pineapples came from Xuwen county, Zhanjiang city, in the western part of Guangdong province.

According to Chen Dasong, director of Xuwen Dachang Agricultural Cooperatives, it was the first time the county sold pineapples to DPRK, and the pineapple export would enhance fruit farmers' confidence to further expand to international markets in the following years.

Chen thanked local customs for providing convenient services and valuable guidance for the fruit export.

Xuwen is the southernmost county of the mainland and is located on the Leizhou Peninsula. It is the largest pineapple production base in the country, earning it the nickname "hometown of pineapples in China".

Xuwen's annual output of pineapples accounts for roughly 43 percent of Guangdong's total and about one-third of China's total.

To help Xuwen pineapples go global, local customs have introduced a series of policies to support local fruit farmers to develop characteristic industries according to local conditions, transform industrial resource advantages into export advantages, and encourage local companies to tap into the potential of pineapple cultivation and overcome difficulties of technological trade barriers to diversify their export markets, said a statement released by Xiahai Customs on Monday.

Based on their export plan, local customs also guide companies to establish and improve a quality management system and carry out pre-export quarantine declaration and testing for toxic and harmful substances while utilizing the green channel for local inspection of exported fresh agricultural products to ensure the rapid customs clearance of high-quality fresh pineapples, it said.