MORE than 53 tons of bamboo products with a market value of 809,000 yuan (US$120,660) have recently been shipped to Indonesia from Chongyi, a hilly county in eastern China’s Jiangxi Province. “About 70% of our bamboo products, mainly toothpicks and chopsticks, are exported overseas,” said Huang Qiqiu, manager of Guiyuan Bamboo & Wood Factory in Chongyi. Chongyi, boasting more than 48,900 hectares of bamboo forests in the city of Ganzhou, is a major bamboo growing area in China, yielding more than 10 million bamboos for commercial use each year. “Bamboo is full of treasures. The bamboo shoot is a popular seasonal ingredient, while the bamboo stem can be used to make toothpicks, chopsticks and tubes,” said Huang, adding that bamboo products made in Chongyi are very well received in Indonesia. Yet before 2019, local bamboo products were rarely exported. “We were unfamiliar with the regulation and technological and quality requirements of overseas markets. All thanks to the local customs authorities, they taught us step by step to export our products,” Huang said. “We obtain the requirements of export destinations, guide enterprises to standardize traceability management, and strictly control inspection and quarantine risks from raw materials to final products,” said Zeng Lin with Ganzhou Customs. In addition, the customs have facilitated export procedures for agricultural and sideline products to further raise clearance efficiency. Ganzhou Customs has, since 2022, supervised the export of 81 batches of bamboo products with a total value of 20.5 million yuan, an increase of 42.2% year on year. Today, bamboo has fostered an industry cluster that benefits both local residents and enterprises. In 2021, the comprehensive output value of the county’s bamboo industry amounted to 1.7 billion yuan. “At present, over 60 people work at my factory, earning an average monthly income of 5,500 yuan, most of whom are local residents,” Huang said. (Xinhua) | 