The abundant fruit resources in China's vast western regions
promise immense opportunities for foreign investors, according to
economists here.
The western regions, including the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Gansu
and
Shaanxi provinces, enjoy ample sunshine and sharp differences
in temperatures between day and night, which provide favorable
conditions for the growth of fruits.
Take Shaanxi Province for instance, it now cultivates nearly
400,000 hectares of apple trees and its apple output accounts for
one fifth of the nation's total.
The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is the place of origin for
Chinese wolfberry and has a cultivation history of more than 500
years. It now produces about 15 million kilograms of the fruit a
year, or 40 percent of the country's total, and accounts for half
of the country's annual Chinese wolfberry exports.
Though rich in fruit resources, the fruit processing technology and
capacity in the western regions, and even the whole country, are
still relatively low.
Official statistics show that China's apple processing capacity
stands at less than 6 percent of the apple output.
On
the other hand, processed fruit products like wines and juices are
finding an increasingly expanding market throughout the
country.
Economists here point out that due to relatively cheap labor, land
price and other factors like water and electricity, the fruit
processing industry in the western regions enjoys many advantages
over other regions in China and foreign countries, thus promises a
bright future.
China is now the world's largest fruit producer with an annual
output of 62 million tons, or 13 percent of the world's total. For
eight consecutive years, it has topped the world in the production
of both apple and pear.
( January 6, 2002)