During the 2024 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) signed an agreement on the market access of poria cocos from Congo (Brazzaville) to China. Starting from May 1, 2026, China has fully implemented a zero-tariff policy for 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, bringing an unprecedented policy boost to trade in characteristic agricultural products between China and Africa. Batches of African poria cocos are crossing mountains and oceans, successfully building a “bridge to prosperity” for win-win cooperation between the Chinese and African peoples.
Chinese strain technology takes root in African soil
Stepping into Hunan Jingzhou Miao and Dong Autonomous County Guoling Technology Co., Ltd., chairman Li Huanguo is showcasing a newly launched deep-processed poria product—poria cocoa crisps—to poria growers in Congo (Brazzaville), Africa, via high-definition mobile video. “Look, this is made from the first batch of imported high-quality poria raw materials, and its quality fully meets international standards!”
“This is not just a product, but also the fruit of Chinese technology taking root in Africa. Once your poria production becomes stable, you can directly supply the global market and boost local economic development,” Li added to the camera.
On the other side of the screen, at the poria planting base in Congo (Brazzaville), sunlight filters through sparse trees onto the soft red soil. Chinese technical experts squat in the fields, guiding local farmers hand in hand: “Remember, the strains need to be kept away from light and moisturized; temperature and humidity control are the keys to field management.” The local growers listened attentively and repeated the steps after the experts.
As a bulk medicinal and edible material in China, traditional poria cultivation relies heavily on pine resources. Regions such as Congo (Brazzaville) in Africa boast vast pine forests, possessing natural advantages for large-scale poria cultivation. Li Huanguo keenly seized the opportunities of China-Africa cooperation, brought Jingzhou’s poria strain technology to Africa, and established standardized planting bases through technology export.
“We have combined mature domestic poria cultivation techniques with local resource endowments, which not only eases the shortage of domestic pine resources but also opens up new income channels for African people,” Li introduced. In February 2026, Guoling Group signed a three-year letter of intent with enterprises in Congo (Brazzaville) to purchase 3,000 tons of poria. Through the “company + farmers” model, it has driven more than 1,000 local households to engage in poria planting, with an average annual per capita income increase of nearly 10,000 yuan.
This “overseas planting + import supervision” model has formed a virtuous cycle of complementary and symbiotic development in the China-Africa poria industry. On the one hand, high-quality African poria raw materials effectively alleviate resource pressure on the domestic industry; on the other hand, as the “Hometown of Chinese Poria”, Jingzhou converts African raw materials into high value-added products relying on world-leading strain breeding and deep-processing technologies.
“We are building a closed-loop industrial chain of ‘African raw material supply + Chinese technological R&D + international market sales’, so that the Chinese and African peoples can share the dividends of industrial development,” Li stated.
Two-way pursuit for win-win results
As China’s largest poria trading center, Jingzhou has a poria planting area of 30,000 mu, with an annual trading volume accounting for over 70% of the national total and exports making up two-thirds of the global market. In 2025, the comprehensive output value of the poria industry chain reached 10.073 billion yuan.
As a new leader in Jingzhou’s poria industry, Li Huanguo led Guoling Group to import and further process high-quality African poria by leveraging the zero-tariff policy advantages. Targeting diverse global market demands, the team is developing French-packaged poria health tea, ready-to-eat poria paste and other big health products, promoting traditional Chinese medicine culture to the world.
Rich in resources and with huge development potential, Africa has become an important trading partner of Huaihua. According to Huaihua Customs, from 2022 to 2025, Huaihua’s import and export value with Africa rose from 640 million yuan to 1.85 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 42.4%; the number of African countries with actual economic and trade exchanges increased from 44 to 49. In the first four months of this year, Huaihua’s imports and exports with Africa reached 81.72 million yuan.
Good policies can only fully play their roles when enterprises understand and make good use of them. Since the policy took effect on May 1, Huaihua Customs immediately sorted out a list of key commodities such as poria and chromite, as well as eligible enterprises, based on the composition of Huaihua’s trade goods with Africa. It set up a trade consultation window for Africa to “point-to-point” interpret policies and promote preferential treatments for enterprises, enabling them to fully enjoy the benefits.
“China’s full implementation of zero tariffs for 53 African countries with diplomatic relations will provide policy benefits for Huaihua to expand trade with Africa,” said Li Chun, deputy commissioner of Huaihua Customs. Huaihua Customs will take targeted measures and strictly implement them to fully ensure the effective implementation of the policy, helping enterprises expand imports, reduce costs and enhance market competitiveness by utilizing the policy. Meanwhile, it will continue to support Huaihua International Land Port in making good use of logistics modes such as sea-rail intermodal trains to provide more efficient logistics channels for trade with Africa, realize the superposition of preferential policies, and boost the high-quality development of Huaihua’s foreign trade.
At present, Jingzhou is vigorously promoting the diversified development of the poria industry and expanding the poria big health sector. It has launched poria dishes such as “poria camellia fish”, “xinling chicken soup” and “poria waxberry ribs”, and developed more than 320 types of poria products including medicines, foods and cosmetics, with sales covering more than 10 countries and regions.
“Our goal is to transform Jingzhou from the ‘Hometown of Chinese Poria’ to the ‘World Capital of Poria’,” Li said. In the future, the company will continue to deepen cooperation with African countries and countries along the “Belt and Road”, making the poria industry a golden bond for the common prosperity of the Chinese and African peoples.
(Translated by Tian Xia)