Fruit trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has maintained a strong momentum in recent years, according to a round-table meeting attended by fruit entrepreneurs from ASEAN members, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), which is being held Luochuan County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Statistics provided by the Ministry of Agriculture show that China exported 517,000 tons of fruits to ASEAN in the first half of this year, up 24.7 percent year on year and accounting for 28.9percent of China's total fruits export for the same period. The value of fruits exported to ASEAN reached 180 million US dollars, or 18.6 percent of the value of China's total fruits exports for the same period.

China's fruits imports from ASEAN totaled 424,000 tons in the January-June period, up 8.8 percent over last year's same period, and accounting for 71.1 percent of China's total fruit imports forthe same period. The value of fruits imported from ASEAN was 170 million US dollars in the January-June period, accounting for 49.4percent of the value of China's total fruit imports, and up 28.2 percent over last year's same period.

China and ASEAN member nations have signed a series of agreements to promote trade in fruits, vegetables and other farm produce since China joined in the World Trade Organization (WTO) nearly four years ago, said Lu Xiaoping, deputy head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Trade under the "Goods Agreement of a Framework Agreement for Overall Economic Cooperation" between China and ASEAN countries took effect on July 20 this year. Under the agreement, China and six ASEAN countries gave tariff cuts to each other or lifted tariffs on more than 7,000 kinds of commodities.

Experts said that with a population of 1.8 billion, China and ASEAN are a huge potential market for each other. The China-ASEANfree trade zone, now under construction, will be the largest free trade zone in the world. Completely formed by developing countries,it will post a GDP of two trillion US dollars and 1.2 trillion US dollars in trade volume.

China and ASEAN member countries are expected to see a further boom in fruit trade in the future in tandem with the liberalization of trade in the region, according to experts.

Source: Xinhua