Chinese fruit vendors have stated that the sales of imported mangos, bananas, durians and other fruits have seen a rise as summer approaches. As a side effect of the increased fruit exports to China from countries under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the fruit trade is now effective and has become a driver of trade growth.
Before fresh mango, Cambodian bananas were directly exported to China in May 2019 for the first time, and the total export reached 130,000 tons. In 2020, Cambodia exported more than 330,000 tons of fresh bananas to China, up 153.8 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the Cambodia Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
"It will not only contribute to boosting Cambodia's economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also help reduce poverty in rural areas," said Cambodian Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon on Friday. He said in 2019 that the fresh banana export was ‘another milestone in agricultural cooperation between Cambodia and China, particularly under the BRI’.
Over the past two years, durians have surpassed cherries to become China's biggest import fruit. China imported more than $1.5 billion worth of fresh durians from Thailand in 2020, up 77.57 percent year-on-year, according to customs data.
Source: globaltimes.cn