china-africa cooperation forum丨let kenyan roses spread their fragrance to the world——hunan explores a new "flower road" for trade with africa
2024-09-02
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xinhua news agency changsha, september 2 title: let the fragrance of kenyan roses spread to the world - hunan explores a new "flower road" for trade with africa
xinhua news agency reporters zhang ge and ruan zhouwei
in a farm in kenya, flower farmers cut delicate roses one by one. more than 10 hours later, in changsha, hunan, thousands of miles away, domestic consumers can buy these rich and fragrant flowers.
hunan xiyue international trade co., ltd. is the importer of these flowers. the company's "xiyue flowers" brand is the first african flower brand successfully incubated in the yuhua block of the changsha area of the china (hunan) pilot free trade zone.
on may 18, 2024, huang zinan (right), head of hunan xiyue international trade co., ltd., selected flowers at tambuzi flower farm in nanyuki, kenya. photo by xinhua news agency reporter wang guansen
"kenya is a world-renowned flower producing area and one of the world's important flower exporters. kenyan roses are deeply favored by consumers for their large flower heads, numerous varieties and long vase life." huang zinan, head of hunan xiyue international trade co., ltd., said that thanks to the increase in direct flights between china and africa and the facilitation of customs clearance, kenyan flowers have continuously entered the chinese market in recent years, adding more romance to the lives of domestic consumers.
in recent years, relying on the two national platforms of china-africa economic and trade expo and china-africa economic and trade in-depth cooperation pilot zone, the two-way exchanges between hunan and africa have become increasingly close and the scale of cooperation has continued to expand.
since 2019, the china-africa economic and trade expo has been permanently held in hunan. in order to create a "never-ending expo", a permanent exhibition hall of the china-africa economic and trade expo is set up in hunan gaoqiao market. here, citizens and tourists can learn about african culture, buy african specialty products, and feel the unique charm of africa.
in the kenya pavilion in the permanent exhibition hall, the staff of "xiyue flowers" are busy sorting african roses. "gaoqiao market is one of the important distribution centers for kenyan flowers. our imported flowers are shipped from here to beijing, shanghai, guangzhou and other cities." huang zinan introduced that the company has carried out in-depth cooperation with many farms in kenya, and its supply covers more than 10 cities in china.
this is a photo of african flowers taken at hunan gaoqiao market. photo by xinhua news agency reporter chen sihan
in order to further expand the influence of high-quality african agricultural and food products in china, hunan is exploring various trade formats. in july this year, with the completion of china's first african flower re-export trade in changsha, 400 fresh roses imported from kenya by xiyue flowers were re-exported to uzbekistan for sale.
this is a microcosm of hunan's efforts to build a "transshipment trade port" for african goods. yu qing, deputy director of changsha huanghua airport customs, said that this time, changsha huanghua airport customs intervened in advance, sent business experts to hold business seminars with enterprises many times, opened a "green channel", and finally realized the whole process of declaration, port inspection, certificate processing, logistics information flow, etc., to provide convenience for enterprises and shorten the customs clearance time.
"in the past, we have been selling domestically throughout the country through general trade. this time we are trying re-export trade in the hope of leveraging changsha's multiple advantages in trade with africa to sell african flowers to more countries and regions, and accelerate the expansion of the company's business in africa," said huang zinan.
"this is the first trial of africa's flower re-export trade, and also a new attempt to explore the expansion of exports, providing a new path for china-africa economic and trade development." liu yibiao, secretary of the yuhua party working committee and director of the management committee of the changsha section of the china (hunan) pilot free trade zone, said.
