NANNING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Sun Kai made a surprising discovery in Central Asian supermarkets: small mandarins from China were a hit with local shoppers, who affectionately called them "baby mandarins."
During visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Sun, 39, a sales manager at Guilin Jolly Cool Fruit Agricultural Products Co., Ltd., saw the fruit selling for as much as 60 yuan (about 8.93 U.S. dollars) per kilogram.
"Their love for mandarins, especially the smaller varieties, exceeded our expectations," he said.
For Xing'an County, Sun's hometown in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, overseas demand is delivering new opportunities to the citrus industry, a pillar of the local rural economy.
The county has more than 200,000 mu (around 13,333 hectares) of citrus orchards, producing over 500,000 tonnes of fruit annually, according to local reports.
Sun began exploring overseas markets in 2023 after years in domestic e-commerce and fruit processing.
Nanfeng mandarins, a widely grown variety in Xing'an, have proved popular in Central Asia. Newer varieties have pushed down their prices at home, but their small size, sweetness and juiciness appeal to overseas consumers.
With support from local authorities, Sun's company worked with village committees to register orchards collectively, helping smaller growers enter overseas markets.
The company's export value rose from roughly 500,000 U.S. dollars in 2023 to several million U.S. dollars in 2025, Sun said.
Sun estimated that some farming households could earn a combined 50,000 to 60,000 yuan annually from citrus growing and seasonal work in harvesting, sorting and packaging. More than 40,000 households in Xing'an have benefited from citrus exports, while the county's citrus industry is expected to generate over 1.1 billion yuan in output value this year.
In neighboring Quanzhou County, another local agricultural specialty is finding customers abroad.
Anhe Town has grown taro for more than 1,000 years, aided by its mild climate and fertile soil. Today, the town has approximately 18,600 mu of taro fields, accounting for more than 60 percent of Quanzhou's total. The industry's annual output value has exceeded 100 million yuan for several consecutive years.
You Wei, 47, chairman of a Quanzhou-based agricultural company, exports locally grown taro to Malaysia and the Republic of Korea. His company operates a cold-storage facility with a capacity of about 600 tonnes, thus allowing sales beyond the harvest season.
"Demand for taro has grown in recent years, driven by increasing interest in healthy eating and the popularity of taro balls in bubble tea," You said.
Xing'an and Quanzhou are among a growing number of Chinese counties building on their local strengths to reach overseas markets, aided by improving transportation and logistics networks. Products ranging from agricultural specialties and makeup brushes to wigs, power equipment, tires and toys are finding buyers abroad.
In Luxi County in east China's Jiangxi Province, over 140 electric porcelain companies generated 16 billion yuan in revenue in 2025, with exports exceeding 380 million yuan. Meanwhile, Tianchang, a county-level city in east China's Anhui Province, has become one of China's three largest plush toy production bases, with more than 90 percent of local toy products exported to Europe and the United States.
Counties contribute approximately 40 percent of China's GDP, according to a think tank report released in late 2025.
The outline of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) calls for developing county economies with distinctive local strengths, while the 2026 "No. 1 central document," the first policy statement issued by China's central authorities each year, emphasizes cultivating county-level industries that benefit rural residents.
Qiu Tongwei, a professor at Nanjing Agricultural University in east China, said counties should build on their local strengths and pursue distinctive development paths rather than simply copy one another.
Yet reaching global markets brings challenges, particularly for inland agricultural exporters facing long transport routes and the need to keep produce fresh.
Sun recalled losing an entire truckload of fruit overseas after problems with temperature control and difficulties in communication with a driver.
Fruit from Xing'an is generally shipped by sea through Shenzhen in south China or overland via the Horgos border crossing in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Sun hopes the Pinglu Canal, which opened to navigation in September, could eventually offer another shipping option to Southeast Asian markets.
Sun plans to register more orchards and introduce more fruit varieties to overseas buyers.
"We hope to take mandarins grown along the Xiangjiang River to consumers around the world," he said. ■
