Profits in pickles for traditional Fuling

CHONGQING－Washing, sorting and dehydrating－robotic arms are busy processing pickled mustard tubers on a production line operated by the Chongqing Fuling Zhacai Group in Chongqing municipality.

The history of pickle-making in the city's Fuling district, a major pickle production center, dates back more than 150 years. The district's traditional method of producing preserved mustard tubers was listed as a State-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

Over the years, these unique pickles, an expensive snack at the turn of the 20th century, have featured on countless dinner tables across China and have even been shipped overseas.

These days, they are exported to more than 60 countries, with Japan and South Korea as the biggest markets, according to Zhang Xiaoming, the Chongqing Fuling Zhacai Group's foreign trade manager.

Zhang added that despite the pandemic, exports are still growing. In the first quarter of this year, the company generated exports of over 18 million yuan ($2.7 million), an increase of 28.5 percent year-on-year.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement－the world's biggest free trade pact, which took effect this year－has also boosted exports to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

Under the RCEP, tariffs on the company's exports from China to Japan decreased by around 2 percent, Zhang said.

In the first four months of 2022, the company exported 7.73 million yuan of the pickled tubers to other RCEP member states, up 26.8 percent from a year earlier.

Citywide, pickles valued at 29.9 million yuan were exported from Chongqing to other RCEP member states in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 3.2 percent year-on-year, official data showed.

"The pickles were mostly bought by overseas Chinese in the past. Thanks to deepening exchanges, other nationalities are now falling in love with them. With the RCEP and the ensuing tariff reductions and facilitation of trade, our pickles are more competitive on overseas markets," said Sun Xiao, foreign trade manager at Chongqing Fuling Luling Industrial.

To facilitate the export of pickles, customs authorities have introduced a raft of measures ranging from simplifying administrative procedures and improving clearance to cracking down on fake products, said Meng Zhenguo, deputy director of Fuling Customs.

The popularity of the pickles has also benefited farmers.

Wang Bangshu, a farmer from Dengjia village, has planted mustard her entire life. Last year, her 1.3-hectare land yielded over 70 metric tons, earning her more than 60,000 yuan.

"I never imagined that our mustard would be exported abroad," she said.

Last year, the pickle industry in Fuling was valued at 13 billion yuan.

Xinhua