At the ongoing China Agricultural Trade Fair, the medlar juice with the "green food" label has received 1 million yuan (US$120,773) worth of orders for the Ningxia Xixiawang Wine Group Corporation.  

Xixiawang in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was not the sole green food producer who enjoys a rosy market. Since it opened in Beijing Tuesday, more than 40 contracts worth 4 billion yuan (US$483 million) have been signed at the fair. Most of the projects involved sales and processing of green food.

Experts participating in the week-long fair agreed that China's relatively young "green food" industry is enjoying a flourishing market.

Statistics show that by the first half of this year, China had 1,929 companies using "green food" labels, producing 25 million tons of green food annually.

The rapid growth of China's national economy and per capita income have triggered changes in market demand, and more people care about their nutrition and health and prefer green food for its production that does not involve pollutants and faces strict quality control.

To promote the development of the sector, China has formulated a series of laws and regulations and established a nationwide network to monitor the environment of the production bases, production process and quality, packaging, storage and transportation of products.

Many major agricultural producers in the country consider the green food industry their backbone. Heilongjiang is one of them. In a blueprint worked out recently, the northeastern province listed the building of a green food base one of its six major bases and planned to adopt preferential policies in taxation, financing and land use in this respect.

Heilongjiang leads the country in the varieties, output and market share of green food.

Markets are the best driving force for the development of the industry. Ever-increasing prices and the welcome from consumers have ignited the enthusiasm for green food firms.

In the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the "hometown of medlar," the launch of the "pollution-free food action" this year brought the prices of medlar to 13 to 14 yuan per kilogram, two to three yuan higher than the previous year.

"Though Ningxia is still lagging behind in green food production, we have advantages in natural environment, such as well-protected air, water and land," said Guan Jinyue, director in charge of green food industry at the regional level. "We could catch up some day."

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2003)