Nigeria Times

By Che Bin, Huang Weixin, Huang Peizhao, People’s Daily

In a lush avocado orchard on the shores of Lake Naivasha in Nakuru County, Kenya, more than 2,500 avocado trees stretched as far as the eye could see. Richard Wafula, owner of the farm, was busy harvesting avocados with his workers.

“Soon, approximately 10 containers of fresh avocados will be delivered to Chinese consumers from here,” he said.

China and Kenya signed a protocol to foster bilateral trade in avocados in January 2022. Seven months later, the first batch of fresh avocados grown in Kenya entered the Chinese market, making Kenya the first African country to export fresh avocados to China.

In November 2022, Kenyan fresh avocados made their debut at the fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE), immediately favored by Chinese consumers. It marked another remarkable chapter in China-Africa win-win cooperation.

Richard Tuwei is an avocado farmer from the western Kenyan city of Eldoret whose orchard was originally planted with 1,200 avocado trees. In August 2022, Tuwei’s products were among the first to pass an access review and export fresh avocados to China.

“In the past, when the avocado season arrived, we had to wait for some time before picking because local traders needed time to find buyers. But now, we pick the fruit as soon as it is ripe. The demand in the Chinese market is enormous, and our products have quickly found a ready market. This new opportunity encouraged us to plant an additional 500 trees last year,” Tuwei told People’s Daily.

Kenya is the largest exporter of avocados in Africa. Currently, 30 percent of the country’s avocados are exported to China, and this trend is expected to continue growing in the future. According to estimates from the local agricultural department, avocado exports to China will increase the annual income of local farmers by 30 percent to 50 percent.

The business with the Chinese market has brought tangible changes to the lives of Kenyan farmers. Tuwei told People’s Daily that in the past, he had to borrow money from friends to pay for his children’s tuition. But now, with a stable income from avocado farming, he can comfortably cover his daily expenses, and his life quality has been significantly improved.

Wafula and Tuwei’s Chinese partner is Shanghai-based Greenchain Information Science and Technology (Greenchain). Greenchain has built partnerships with over 500 avocado growers and manages seven farms in Kenya.

To ensure that the fresh avocados meet the standards of the Chinese market, the company has signed cooperation agreements with local growers, which cover the entire process starting from the planting of avocado seeds all the way to the final sale of the fruit. This helps realize order-based cultivation management.

According to Du Gongming, general manager of Greenchain’s African business division, avocado features high economic value and low cultivation costs, and its cultivation boasts mature pest control techniques. After the successful export of fresh avocado to China last year, many Kenyan farmers started switching to avocado planting, hoping for more cooperation with China, he said.

“China has a huge population, which is a crucial asset for any market. We believe that in the future, more farmers will export avocados to China,” said Kello Harsama, principal secretary in the State Department for Crop Development in Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

After the fifth CIIE, Greenchain established a new avocado processing plant, in order to meet the growing demand in the Chinese market. The plant officially started operation in March this year.

“We purchased new equipment, introduced new packaging technology, and built a fumigation laboratory. Everyone is confident about the business development,” said Du.

It takes about 25 days for an avocado to hit the Chinese market from being picked in Kenya. Last August, the first batch of avocados from the African country arrived in China in 4 containers. This year, Greenchain has already shipped over 100 containers of avocados to China, and the number is expected to reach 300 by the end of the year.

“The CIIE has brought obvious driving effects, promoting win-win situations for multiple parties,” Du said.

In the past, China mainly imported avocados from South American countries. Nowadays, African avocados have entered the Chinese market, providing more choices for consumers.

“We are continuously expanding our marketing channels and increasing the sales of Kenyan avocados in the Chinese market,” said Du.

The CIIE debut of Kenyan avocados marked the deepening agricultural cooperation, as well as economic and trade exchanges between China and Africa.

In recent years, under mechanisms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, 16 agricultural products from 11 African countries have gained access to the Chinese market, and China has granted zero-tariff treatment to 98 percent of products originating from 21 African countries. Today, China stands as the second-largest destination for African agricultural exports.

Greenchain has participated in the CIIE for five consecutive years, and will continue to join the sixth CIIE this year. At that time, African specialties such as pineapples from Benin, chili peppers from Tanzania, and seafood from Kenya will be showcased for the first time at the event.

China-Africa practical cooperation enjoys broad prospects, and the stories of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes between the two sides are to be continued at the CIIE.

By Lin Rui and Liang Xiaojian

The 2023 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road is being held in Beijing on Oct.19. The theme of the 2023 forum is “Strengthening Media Cooperation for a Brighter Shared Future.” Over 130 foreign media executives, senior editors, and journalists from over 110 media outlets in 75 BRI partner countries participated in the forum.

In the autumn of 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past ten years, with the combined efforts of all parties, it has evolved from ideas into actions, transforming from a vision into a reality and developing from a general framework into concrete projects. The BRI holds great practical significance as it steadily progresses and endures in the long run. It has charted a path of peace, prosperity, opening-up, green development, innovation, and civilization for the countries involved.

Chinese and foreign guests attending the forum held the belief that media outlets from various countries should collaborate in telling the story of constructing the BRI, fostering universal security, and facilitating increased exchanges and mutual learning.
In addition to the main forum, the event features the Silk Road Prize for Global News and a sub-forum focused on regional cooperation within the BRI. The event was attended by representatives from relevant ministries and commissions of the Chinese central government, major media organizations, scholars, as well as representatives from state-owned and private enterprises participating in the BRI.

The forum, hosted by the People’s Daily, has invited over 1,000 representatives of media and international organizations from over 100 countries since its inception in 2014. The forum aims to foster consensus and gather collective strengths to promote the high-quality development of the BRI.

By Jiang Nan, Dou Hanyang, People’s Daily

The China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, unveiled on April 1, 2017, is among the third batch of China’s pilot free trade zones (FTZs). Since its founding, the Zhejiang pilot FTZ has embraced rapid development and continuously contributed to the high-quality development of the open economy.

Last year, the Zhejiang pilot FTZ, occupying less than 1/400 of Zhejiang province’s total area, accounted for 6.5 percent of the newly registered enterprises, 9.2 percent of the tax revenue, 20.6 percent of the foreign trade volume, and 18.1 percent of the actual utilization of foreign capital in the province.

At present, the Zhejiang pilot FTZ has adopted a “four-area” development model, with each area having a strategic focus based on its strengths. The Zhoushan area is developing as an oil and gas free trade hub; the Ningbo area focuses on logistics and transportation; the Hangzhou area is emerging as a digital free trade zone; the Jinyi area is dedicated to commerce and trade.

The Yiwu International Trade Market, which is located in the Jinyi area, is the world’s largest wholesale market for small commodities. Selling 2.1 million categories of small commodities to over 230 countries and regions, it fuels the development of 2.1 million small and medium-sized enterprises and supports jobs for 32 million people.

The Jinyi area cooperates with some 40 cross-border e-commerce platforms around the world, and is working to continuously improve the support system for digital trade sectors such as cross-border e-commerce. Besides, it is also optimizing its trade models, and has built an official website market “chinagoods.com.”

According to an official, the Yiwu International Trade Market boasts 75,000 business stalls. In the past, purchasers had to go from stall to stall searching for the items they wanted, which was both tiring and time-consuming.

Today, thanks to the efforts to streamline procurement processes, purchases can be made swiftly and thus the trade volume has been significantly improved.

The Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe freight train route, which starts from the Jinyi area, has developed into one of the China-Europe freight train routes with the most operating lines and highest loading efficiency since it was launched nine years ago. Today, with the train service heading west by land, and the Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan corridor going east by sea, goods and commodities are flowing steadily from the Jinyi area to the world.

Over the past three years, the Ningbo area of the Zhejiang pilot FTZ has been continuously promoting trade liberalization and facilitation, further consolidating and enhancing its status as a global cross-border trade hub.

In 2022, the cargo throughput at Ningbo Zhoushan port reached 1.26 billion tons, ranking first globally for 14 consecutive years. The container throughput reached 33.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units, maintaining its position as the third largest globally.

From January to August this year, Beilun district, where the Ningbo area is located, achieved a total import and export volume of 295.4 billion yuan ($40.37 billion).

The Hangzhou area of the Zhejiang pilot FTZ is leading the way in integrating high-standard digital trade rules, exploring the establishment of a comprehensive institutional framework for the development of digital trade, and nurturing digital industry clusters with international competitiveness.

Currently, Hangzhou’s cross-border e-commerce retail export platforms account for two-thirds of China’s total, and its cross-border payment and settlement volume represents 40 percent of the country’s cross-border e-commerce exports.

In the first half of this year, Hangzhou’s digital service trade volume increased by 19.6 percent compared to the same period last year. Knowledge-intensive service trade accounted for over 80 percent of service trade, surpassing the national average.

In the hall of the Zhejiang Mercantile Exchange, a giant electronic screen is eye-catching. The screen displays not only the trading prices of various oil products, but also China’s Zhoushan LSFO (low sulphur fuel oil) bonded bunker price, known as the “Zhoushan price.”

“The market share of enterprises currently participating in Zhoushan’s bonded bunker price reporting has increased to 84 percent in the local bonded bunkering market,” said Lai Xin, chairman of the Zhejiang Mercantile Exchange. He noted that the “Zhoushan price” was officially introduced on June 21, 2021, marking an important institutional innovation achievement of the Zhoushan area.

“This mechanism breaks the monopoly of overseas markets on LSFO pricing,” Lai stated. In the past, China’s domestic oil and gas trading market lacked pricing power, but now with the “Zhoushan price,” it can effectively promote the use of RMB pricing in the bonded LSFO bunkering sector, and gradually increase the international influence of China’s spot price for bonded bunker fuel.

The Zhoushan area continues to build an international oil and gas industry cooperation platform with global influence. This has led to a spillover effect of expanded industrial chains and outward development in refining, storage, shipping and more. Consequently, the Zhoushan area is seeing the rapid emergence of a trillion-yuan oil and gas industry cluster.

Currently, the Zhoushan area is home to 12,700 oil and gas companies. In 2022, its oil and gas trade volume reached 776.123 billion yuan. Over the past 6 years, the accumulated trade volume has exceeded 270 million yuan, with an average annual growth of 64 percent.

By Guo Jiping, People’s Daily

The sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from Nov. 5 to 10.

The CIIE, a pioneering event in the history of international trade development, has become a showcase of China’s new development pattern, a platform for high-level opening-up, and a public good shared by the whole world.

This year’s CIIE fully resumes offline activities, and is expected to welcome guests from 154 countries, regions, and international organizations. So far, 69 countries and three international organizations have confirmed their participation in the Country Exhibition. Over 3,400 exhibitors and nearly 410,000 professional visitors have registered for the event, with a record number of Global Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders in attendance.

Since the first CIIE, many participating companies have expressed similar sentiments, speaking of the tremendous appeal of the event. Some said they would bring their best and latest products to the event, and some promised to introduce their countries’ specialties. For them, the CIIE brings not just orders, but also the future and hopes.

The achievements of the past five editions of the CIIE have been remarkable: 131 countries and international organizations participated in the Country Exhibition; over 15,000 exhibitors joined the Business Exhibition; the cumulative number of registered visitors exceeded 2 million; the cumulative intended turnover amounted to $350 billion.

The CIIE not only attracts multinational companies, but also gathers upstream and downstream enterprises, providing opportunities for cooperation for various industries to reorganize and optimize themselves on a global scale. Many exhibitors said that at the CIIE, they can deepen exchanges with companies and partners in the same industry or even across industries, and discuss cooperation prospects together.

The previous five sessions of the CIIE have seen debuts of around 2,000 new and innovative products, technologies and services, including intelligent mobile hospitals, hydrogen-fueled concept cars, direct-injection digital printers, and vertical farms. It has become an incubator for technological innovation with global impact.

The CIIE also provides free standard booths and fee reduction measures for the least developed countries. It has been joined by enterprises from 43 least developed countries in the previous five sessions.

With the help of the CIIE, products such as coffee from Timor-Leste, pine nuts from Afghanistan, and cashews from Cambodia have achieved unprecedented sales in the Chinese market.

The “CIIE effect” continues to amplify. The Hongqiao Import Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center provides a permanent exhibition and sales platform for small and medium-sized enterprises participating in the CIIE. Since the first CIIE, Shanghai has recognized a total of 60 “6+365” trading platforms and introduced nearly 270,000 types of exhibits, with a cumulative import value of over 323 billion yuan ($44.22 billion).

German multinational glass company Schott AG said the CIIE presents a vivid and lively representation of the entire Chinese market. The company participated in the first CIIE with a “give it a try” attitude. From then on, it attended the expo every year, increased its investment and even established new factories in China.

The head of Schott China stated that with the expo, the company has achieved unparalleled growth, and continuing to invest in the Chinese market is a strategic choice for the future.

Thanks to the CIIE, exhibits have turned into commodities and exhibitors have become investors. An increasing number of multinational corporations are deeply integrated into China’s industrial and innovation networks.

Since the beginning of this year, multinational companies have continued to increase investment and expand production in China, with projects progressing at a faster pace. Global refrigeration industry giant Danfoss has put into operation a global refrigeration R&D testing center, German chemical giant BASF’s integrated base has started construction on its syngas facility in Zhanjiang, south China’s Guangdong province, and Airbus has begun construction on its second final assembly line for the A320 series aircraft in Tianjin.

In the first nine months of this year, China has established 37,814 new foreign-invested enterprises, with a year-on-year increase of 32.4 percent.

The CIIE mirrors the resilience and vitality of the Chinese economy, to deepen reform and pursue high-quality development through greater openness.

For some time now, the global economic recovery has faced headwinds, but China has withstood the pressures and continued its rebound, with its economic growth among the highest in major economies worldwide.

China is steadfastly pushing for higher-level opening up, and actively expanding imports. It has remained the world’s second-largest import market for 14 consecutive years. With a population of over 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of over 400 million people, China constitutes the world’s second-largest consumer market and the largest online retail market.

Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, noted that many companies with global markets need to achieve economies of scale, and if they don’t come to China, they won’t be able to reach the economic scale needed to maintain global competitiveness.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that opening up is the hallmark of contemporary China. In his keynote speeches and addresses delivered at the previous five sessions of the CIIE, the word “openness” was mentioned over 100 times. The measures he announced at the CIIE to expand opening up have been gradually implemented, effectively promoting new progress in high-level opening-up.

China has established the Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, implemented an integrated development strategy in the Yangtze River Delta region, released an overall plan for the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, further expanded reform and opening up in Shenzhen, continuously improved business environment, and strengthened intellectual property protection.

China has deepened reform by opening up, and conversely, pursued deeper reforms to enable greater openness. This benefits not only China’s own development but also the world.

The CIIE belongs not just to China, but to the world. Looking ahead, China is willing to work together with all countries to practice true multilateralism, build a greater consensus of openness, jointly overcome the difficulties and challenges facing global economic development, and usher in a brighter future for development worldwide through opening up.

By Wang Ke, People’s Daily

Wang Wei, who lives in Yuelu district of Changsha, central China’s Hunan province, is a frequent online shopper. Whenever he needs a refreshing cold drink or urgently requires medication late at night, he simply picks up his phone, opens an app, and places an order.

“Within half an hour, things I need are delivered right to my doorstep,” he said.

Instant retail, which features online real-time ordering and offline real-time delivery, leverages local retail supply to meet local instant demands.

Currently in China, an increasing number of products, ranging from fresh vegetables to bread and beverages, and from electronic devices to cosmetics, are being delivered to consumers faster through this method.

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the number of instant retail orders exceeded 40 billion in 2022, with a market size of over 500 billion yuan ($68.32 billion), and the market is expected to treble by 2025.

The final delivery from merchants to consumers is a crucial part of the commercial distribution system. In recent years, with the continuous advancement of China’s commercial distribution system, there has been ongoing innovation and optimization in the field of last-mile delivery. This has been driven by the accelerated integration of online and offline consumption, giving rise to new models of instant retail and allowing consumers to immediately get commodities they purchase.

The rapid development of instant delivery is driven by the significant demand from consumers, especially young consumers. According to a Accenture report, Chinese Gen-Zers place a greater emphasis on the speed of delivery, and over half of consumers born after 1995 hope to get same-day or even half-day delivery. Seven percent of consumers hope to receive their goods within two hours after placing an order.

“Instant retail, relying on internet trading platforms, is not only a new form of retail, but also a new model of consumption,” said Wu Chuanliang, an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

In the first three quarters of this year, China’s online retail sales reached 10.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent, 4.8 percentage points higher than the growth of total retail sales of consumer goods.

The steady growth has brought good opportunities for the development of instant retail. Currently, the instant retail industry is showing a growing trend characterized by a wider range of product categories, expanded service areas, an expanding customer base, and increasingly diverse consumption scenarios.

“It was beyond my imagination that I could sell hundreds of thousands of goods a month,” said Liu, who runs a 80-square meter budget store in Tongzhou district, Beijing. Leveraging the delivery services provided by retail platforms, the service radius of this small store has expanded from 1-2 kilometers to 5-6 kilometers. Hundreds of orders are sent from the store every day, driving rapid growth of its sales.

“Technological transformation has brought about significant changes to both the production and consumption ends of the retail industry,” said Zhang Jixing, deputy director of the market research department of the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

New business forms such as social commerce and vertical e-commerce continue to emerge, while instant retail and home delivery models are flourishing. Such development is driving offline retailers to actively embrace online channels, not only providing convenience to consumers but also converting online traffic into new sources of orders.

According to a report by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association (CCFA), with the rapid development of the infrastructure for new business models and urban delivery networks, instant retail characterized by hour or minute delivery has become a new frontier for retail innovation.

An official with the CCFA told People’s Daily that instant retail, by integrating existing offline resources, enables online platforms to collaborate with offline retailers, creating a synergy where “1+1>2.” This is not only a necessity for the development of the industry but also a result of the advancement in cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, and intelligent technology.

Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the e-commerce research institute of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the development of instant retail helps accelerate the digital transformation of traditional retail, facilitating the convergence of online and offline channels in the retail industry. It is expected to become a new driver of consumption growth, Hong added.