Chinese desert fruit export delivers new taste to SE Asia

HOHHOT, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- While durians from Thailand and Malaysia, bananas from the Philippines and passion fruit from Vietnam are well-received by Chinese consumers, a Chinese desert fruit is also making its way to Southeast Asian countries.

Cold-chain trucks shuttle in orchards in Horqin Sandy Land, a vast swathe of desertified area in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to load and transport fresh crabapples, newly picked in local orchards, to coastal ports for export to southeast Asian countries.

Teng Dayong, a fruit farmer in Horqin Left Wing Middle Banner (county) in the city of Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, manages a 190-mu (about 12.67 hectares) crabapple orchard in this area.

He said his fruit trees are going to produce 2,000 kilograms of crabapples per mu this year, earning him a net income of 10,000 yuan (1,418 U.S. dollars) per mu.

"Nearly half of the fruit from my orchard has been ordered for export to Southeast Asia," said Teng.

The little chubby red fruit grown in the inland area is transported by trucks to Chinese ports such as Dalian for marine shipping. It is expected to appear on the shelves of supermarkets in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand after ten days of cold-chain transport.

Horqin Sandy Land is one of China's largest sandy areas, stretching over 77.6 million mu and straddling three Chinese provincial-level regions, namely Inner Mongolia, Jilin and Liaoning.

Aoserji, director of the forestry and grassland administration in the county, said that decades ago, locals had planted poplar trees to serve as shields against sand. However, these trees consumed a lot of water and offered poor economic benefits.

The forestry and grassland academy in Tongliao later developed a crabapple variety that serves both ecological and economic purposes, said Aoserji.

Nowadays, farmers are keen to grow the variety, which is sweet and nutritious, and cold-resistant and drought-tolerant, he explained.

Located in the hinterland of Horqin Sandy Land, the city of Tongliao now boasts 350,000 mu of crabapple trees, achieving an annual output of more than 100,000 tonnes, while the output value is close to 500 million yuan.

This year, fruit farmer Teng has partnered with a Malaysian Chinese to set up a fruit packing and export company. The partner, Zeny Yong, has ordered crabapples from Teng for several years.

Kailu County in Tongliao has recorded an export volume of more than 100 tonnes of crabapples a year, and exports this fruit to a number of countries including Thailand, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

The county has built a cold storage facility capable of storing 1,000 tonnes of this fruit, thereby keeping it fresh until April and May the following year for export.