Tech, best practices give Chinese apples big edge

Quality quartet

Last year, China and the EU rolled out measures to protect 100 of the EU's geographical indications and 100 Chinese geographical indications against imitations.

Apples from four areas in China－Shandong's Yantai and Wendeng in the city of Weihai, Jingning county, Gansu province, and Jixian county in Shanxi province－have attained the geographical indication classification, amid the growing global recognition of quality Chinese agricultural products.

"Being included on the list is hugely significant to developing the city's apples into a global brand," said Wu Chenguang, deputy head of Yantai's bureau of agriculture and rural affairs.

Yantai's annual apple exports are expected to reach 800,000 tons in five years, according to the city's plan, with major companies beefing up technology and automation in preparation for the increase.

Qilu Quanyuan Supply Chain spent 10 million yuan ($1.54 million) setting up an automatic apple-sorting production line last year.

The apples are tracked and checked by cameras for their color, appearance and condition before packaging, the company's production manager, Zhou Yannan, said.

In neighboring Weihai city, Wendeng district's apple orchards cover more than 11,000 hectares. Farmers produced 220,000 tons of apples last year and a modern industrial park covering more than 2,600 hectares has been set up to tap markets, in line with the industry's expansion plans.

In Gansu's Jingning, the environmental conditions and climate are advantages that help nurture the county's popular apples. Jingning's orchards are situated 1,340 meters to 2,245 meters above sea level, average annual rainfall is over 420 millimeters, there are 2,250 hours of sunshine a year and the average daily temperature variance is about 12 C.

More than 66,600 hectares of orchards produced about 820,000 tons of apples last year, with an output value of about 4.6 billion yuan, according to industry figures.

Over 170 apple varieties have also been introduced to farmers and 1,300 hectares of land set aside for a product demonstration base to help take the industry to the next higher level.

Li Jianming, head of the county's fruit research institute, said investments include state-of-the-art "smart-sorting" production lines, while packaging lines have also helped provide jobs for more than 1,200 local farmers.