The Mandarin Orange and Tea Promotion Fair of Yichang, Hubei was held in Khorgos City in Xinjiang. Enterprises from Khorgos, Xinjiang and Yichang, Hubei have signed purchase contracts of totaling 200 thousand tonnes of mandarin oranges with 30 million funds, which marks the beneficial exploration and practice for inter modal international logistic passage “from Yichang to Khorgos then to Europe”.

On 14th September, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang and Yichang City, Hubei successfully signed the “Yichang-Xinjiang-Europe” inter modal international passage strategic cooperation frame contract, aiming at seizing the opportunity of the national strategic development of “One Belt, One Road” and Yangtze economic belt, fully exploiting both the advantage of Ili, which is on the important intersection of the core zone of Silk Road Economic Belt, and the advantage of Yichang, which is the hub of Three Gorges. Yichang’s mandarin orange and tea promotion fair held in Khorgos Economic Development Zone is the concrete measures for both to implement the contract and reinforce the cooperation.

At the promotion fair, Yichang government and leading enterprises of the mandarin orange producing districts promoted and displayed the featured primary products such as mandarin oranges and tea. They also signed contracts with clients in Khorgos.

Xiang Bin, the president of Jusheng Mandarin Orange Cooperative Association in Zigui County, Yichang, extended mandarin orange market to Khorgos Port two years ago. As the “Silk Road Economic Belt” strategy implementing further, his mandarin orange sales in Khorgos reached dozens of millions.

Xiang wanted to meet more clients at home and abroad at the promotion fair in Khorgos, “In the past our clients concentrated in Manchuria and North East. The business in Khorgos began three or four years ago. In the past there was no business in North West, now the annual sales have reached dozens of millions. The advantage of Khorgos is that it can shorten the logistic cycle to Central Asia and Russia by at least five to six days. Now we have gradually shifted our focus from Khorgos to enlarge the supply to the clients there. In addition we have trade firms, we want to meet foreign clients through Khorgos to export and expand the market to the five Central Asian countries.”

At the promotion fair, Khorgos Sideyuan International Trade Co., Ltd signed 40 thousand tons of mandarin orange purchase contract with mandarin enterprises in Yichang. Lu Jianhua, the person in charge of the company was quite optimistic about the exploration and practice for inter modal international logistic passage “from Yichang to Khorgos then to Europe”.

Lu Jianhua said, “Last year our foreign exchange revenue was over 20 million US dollars. We signed purchase contract of 20 thousand tons of mandarin oranges with Hubei Xingxiang Primary Product Cooperative for export. We also signed 20 thousand tons for domestic sales. We hope to sell Ili’s primary products and vegetables to Hubei by cooperation, and our products to the ports and countries connected by Ili.”  (Reporter Zhang Lei, Ili TV journalist Zhao Bangyao)