Chinese growers aim to expand export of freshly picked waxberries

Chinese growers are planning to expand the export of fresh waxberries harvested in east China's Zhejiang Province to more countries in addition to current marketplaces in Europe and Southeast Asia this year.

The waxberries grew in greenhouses in Zhejiang's Qingtian County were picked in the early morning of Sunday before loaded to refrigerated vehicles and transported to a local intensive processing and storage park for sorting and packaging, then sent to Pudong Airport in neighboring Shanghai for flight to European marketplaces including Madrid.

"This shipment consists of a total of 450 boxes of waxberries for export to for Spain. They were picked in the morning, packaged in the factory in the afternoon, and shipped to Shanghai in the evening, and should be able to arrive in Madrid in 24 hours," said Xia Xiaoqing, an employee of a local trade company.

The waxberry is popular throughout China for its taste and nutritive value. This versatile fruit is also plugged as the next big "super fruit" due to its high content of antioxidants.

But the fruit has a short shelf life and is difficult to store. Therefore, producers in Qingtian County have adopted a new anti-atomization cold chain packaging to keep the freshness during long-distance shipment.

According to local culture and tourism authorities, the Qingtian waxberries are now able to reach 146 cities across China via high-speed trains and cargo flights, and can even arrive in 19 Chinese cities on the day of picking.

The Qingtian waxberries have also reached consumers in Europe and Southeast Asia. In 2023, Qingtian County exported more than 20 tons of waxberries, with a sales volume of 370,000 euros.

The waxberry growers are planning to further expand the export and let their high-quality fruits enter more overseas markets.

"We will export them to more countries this year, like Britain, France, plus Singapore and Indonesia. So, the sales volume of this year is likely to double that of last year," Xia said.

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said Sunday the country has discovered more than 7.5 trillion cubic feet (21.24 billion cubic meters) of gas reserves in a field in the southern Fars province.

Nearly 5.7 trillion cubic feet of gas can be extracted from the field, considering a recovery factor of about 72 to 73 percent, Paknejad said in an interview with state-run IRIB TV.

"The newly-discovered resources add tens of billions of dollars to the intrinsic value of the country's wealth," he said, adding the field also contains a significant amount of gas condensate reserves.

Iran holds nearly 34 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, according to data by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. After Russia, the country has the second-largest gas reserves in the world.