Shanghai Gaorong food has become China's first company to resume its fresh spinach exports to Japan from this month after a year of negotiation, reported CRIENGLISH.com.

The company says so far five batches totalling 50 tons of fresh spinach have been sent to Japan.

And only 4 samples per cargo have to be examined when passing customs.

The whole procedure will take less than three days, much faster than the previous 15 days.

Japan set a long-lasting examination and high fees trade barrier for China's fresh spinach after it found excessive pesticide residue in frozen spinach two years ago.

China's national quality bureau then started negotiations with its Japanese counterpart, saying the two kinds of spinach are produced in different systems and should not be treated equally.

So far, only the Shanghai company and one other Fujian company have been approved to resume the exports.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com