Huili emerges as one of China's largest pomegranate-producing areas

Huili, a county-level city in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province, has emerged as one of China's largest pomegranate-producing areas, with annual output exceeding 800,000 metric tons, local officials said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Zhang Xiaohua, deputy mayor of Huili, said the city is home to more than 30,000 pomegranate growers, with 26,700 hectares of orchards.

The fruit is sold across China and exported to more than 20 countries and regions, including Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, he said.

Located at 26 degrees north latitude, Huili enjoys an average temperature of 15.1 C. It sees over 2,400 hours of sunshine and more than 250 frost-free days every year. Together with wide day-night temperature swings and selenium-rich soil, these conditions give the pomegranates their distinctive traits.

Zhang added that the county has adopted integrated water and fertilizer management systems and green pest control technology across its orchards, and has developed more than 20 new varieties. Local deep-processing companies can handle 80,000 tons of fresh fruit annually, raising the product value more than fivefold.