China has become the world's No.3 citrus fruit producer after the US and Brazil, according to the 2001 International Seminar on Citrus Fruit in session in Beijing.
In 1999, China harvested 10.78 million tons of citrus fruit, 14 times the figure for 1980. By the end of the 9th Five-Year Plan Period, China had exported 200,000 tons annually, with its production of such fruit accounting for 12 percent of the world's total, up from four percent.
Exports account for only two percent of China's citrus fruit production. China still lags behind the countries with a well-developed citrus fruit sector, especially in variety improvement and protection, quality and taste improvement, processing technology, freshness preservation and storage techniques
(Xinhua 05/15/2001)
