An international freight train arrives at the Huaihua International Land Port, and the staff is operating a gantry crane to unload cargos. (Photo/Pan Yu)
Freight trains loaded with cassava starch, grinded rice and other featured products from Laos, Myanmar and other ASEAN countries arrived at the Huaihua International Land Port via the New Western Land-Sea Corridor. Those products were then distributed to other parts of China.
Located between the Xuefeng and Wuling Mountains, Huaihua is an agricultural city and the birthplace of hybrid rice. In recent years, the CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee and the Huaihua Municipal People’s Government have been studying and implementing the important remarks of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the efforts concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, giving full play to the advantages of the city’s agricultural resources, and supporting the development of advantaged industries to drive the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside with industrial development and to promote the transformation from a city with rich agricultural resources to the one with strong agriculture.
The first freight train carrying Jietan Tea of Yuanling County for ASEAN countries.
Huaihua is home to many famous agricultural products, including Qianyang oranges, Xinshang beef, Yuanling Jietan Tea, Jingzhou waxberry and poria, Huitong konjac, Huaihua rice noodles, Dong dried tofu, and Mingshan crispy bamboo shoots.
Nowadays, good wine does need bush. In the past, due to transportation limits, those delicacies were only for the consumption of the locals. With the help of Beibu Gulf Port-Zhanjiang Port-Guangzhou Port sea-rail combined transport, China-Laos and China-Vietnam outbound railway networks, more high-quality agricultural products in Huaihua will be exported to the outside world.
The freight railroad of Huaihua West Cargo Yard and the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway near the Huaihua International Land Port. (Photo/Pan Yu)
On January 10, 2022, the China-Laos (Huaihua-Vientiane) freight train loaded with Huaihua oranges and other goods reached Vientiane, the capital of Laos. This is the first international freight train from central China departing for ASEAN countries after the RCEP came into effect.
On July 27, 2022, the Huaihua-Zhanjiang freight train loaded with agricultural products from Hongjiang County-Level City departed from the Huaihua International Land Port towards the southeastern coastal cities along the Jiaoliu Railway.
On August 15, 2022, the China-Vietnam (Huaihua-Hanoi) freight train loaded with Zhijiang sweet tea, dried rice noodles and other agricultural products departed from the Huaihua International Land Port.
The container yard of the Huaihua International Land Port (Photo/Pan Yu)
In 2022, the Huaihua International Land Port handled 151 international freight trains, and the import and export value of the city rose by 135.6% year-on-year, ranking first in Hunan Province.
On May 19, in the container yard of Huaihua International Land Port, staff unloaded cassava starch imported by Hunan Mengmeng International Trade Co., Ltd. from the freight train, which is the 14th train carrying cassava starch imported by the company.
According to Li Shaomin, general manager of the company, the company is developing the cassava processing industry, using cassava to produce boba for milk tea, which will be exported to the Southeast Asia.
In order to build a foreign trade system, which is complementary to ASEAN industries, Huaihua aims to build itself as the largest cassava trading center and the largest cassava industry base in China, taking cassava industry as a breakthrough to strengthen cooperation with Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries in cassava planting, processing, storage and sales, and facilitating the development of portside industries related to fruits, rubber, grinded rice and spices to form the cluster industry chain featuring “ASEAN resources + Huaihua manufacturing + RCEP market”.
On May 25, the second international freight train of 500 tons of grinded rice imported by Huaihua Tiantian Food Technology Co., Ltd. arrived at the Huaihua International Land Port via the “Yangon Port-Qinzhou Port-Huaihua” sea-rail combined transport service.
At present, enjoying the advantages of efficient, low-cost and safe sea-rail combined transport service provided by the Huaihua International Land Port, Tiantian Food Technology Co., Ltd. has begun to import high-quality grinded rice from foreign markets. Since April, the company has imported two batches of 1,000 tons of high-quality grinded rice every month.
“At present, we have established raw material procurement channels with ASEAN countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, while we have exported high-quality rice noodles to ASEAN countries through the international land port,” Chairperson Yang Jing of Tiantian Food Technology Co., Ltd. told the reporter. In the future, the company will develop more products made of grinded rice and rice. While providing raw materials for more local grain processing enterprises and neighboring grain, food and alcohol processing enterprises, the company will further expand the ASEAN market and deliver Huaihua rice noodles to consumers in the Southeast Asian.
Since this year, the Huaihua International Land Port has maintained a good development momentum. As of May 31, it has handled 190 international freight trains, exceeding the total number of freight trains handled last year. The ASEAN container consolidation center led by Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces has taken the initial form.
Trucks transporting containers at the gate of Huaihua International Land Port. (Photo/Pan Yu)
On July 20, 2022, a train loaded with 200 tons of Yuanling Jietan Tea worth more than 60 million yuan departed from the Huaihua International Land Port for ASEAN countries via the “Huaihua-Beibuwan Port” rail-sea combined transport service for the first time in Hunan Province. The operation of freight trains has effectively boosted Huaihua’s export of tea and other agricultural products to ASEAN countries.
In order to develop overseas markets, Yuanling tea enterprises provide customized products to suit the tastes of customers from different countries. According to Qin Zhi, chairman of Hunan Jietan Tea Group, the company has developed various tastes of tea to meet the requirements of customers in Italy and Southeast Asian countries.
Tea industry is one of the featured industries of Yuanling County. The county has taken the advantage of the rail-sea combined transport service provided by the Huaihua International Land Port to expand its tea export to ASEAN countries to promote its export-oriented economy.
Other counties in Huaihua follow Yuanling’s case. Aiming at the ASEAN market, they have adjusted industrial structures, established bases for agricultural product exports including orange, yellow peaches, bamboo products, Xufeng black tea and sweet tea.
To promote Huaihua’s exports, Huaihua Customs has set up cross-customs coordination mechanisms linking Maban, Pingxiang, Qinzhou and other ports to promote the seamless intermodal transport of goods among Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces; to support the imports of cassava starch, ores, natural rubber, grinded rice, grain, fruits, etc. and the establishment of the trading center for imported cassava starch and spices. Huaihua Customs has also rolled out reforms to improve the efficiency of customs clearance of inbound and outbound goods.
According to Wu Guibai, director of Huaihua Customs, Huaihua Customs has made efforts to promote the exports of featured industries to support rural revitalization based on its field researches in countries and industrial parks and at enterprises. In the first quarter of this year, Huaihua exported 9.92 million yuan of agricultural products, an increase of 38.1%.
On May 25, staff of the container yard was uploading the grinded rice produced by Huaihua Tiantian Food Technology Co., Ltd. (Photo/Zhang Zhuo)
Huaihua International Land Port Economic Development Zone has focused its efforts on project construction, and train and trade platform operation to accelerate the implementation of portside industrial projects as well as the construction of the international land port.
On June 7, it was learned from the cross-border e-commerce supervision center of Huaihua International Land Port, the center had completed the commissioning of information technology equipment for the coming inspection of customs acceptance. The project is located in the customs supervision area of the Huaihua International Land Port, and the construction started on January 24 this year. At present, the main construction as well as the installation and commissioning of information technology equipment have been completed.
As an important supporting facility of Huaihua International Land Port, the cross-border e-commerce supervision center has a planned construction area of about 1,128 square meters and is equipped with two informationized and automatic inspection and sorting lines, being fully capable of conducting cross-border e-commerce business in various modes. After being put into use, the center will effectively promote the development of cross-border e-commerce in the ASEAN market and the diversification of cargo sources of the Huaihua International Land Port. The center will also provide a strong logistics service platform for the development of cross-border e-commerce and meet the needs of the city and the surrounding counties/cities to carry out inbound and outbound express business.
At the construction site of the Intelligent Cold Chain Logistics Center of the Huaihua International Land Port, the construction work is well underway. The intelligent cold chain logistics center project is contracted to the third bureau of CSCEC (China State Construction Engineering Corporation), which includes Shunfeng and Jusu projects. The main construction work of Jusu project is expected to be completed by the end of December. The project will be put into operation in January 2024. The Shunfeng project is undergoing the process of steel structure lifting.
It is learned that this year, Huaihua International Land Port Economic Development Zone has implemented 30 municipal key projects with an annual planned investment of 7.996 billion yuan. The paid-in investment from January to May was 4.493 billion yuan, completing 115.95% of the chronological plan and 57.62% of the annual plan. Among the municipal key projects, 29 were launched, completing 96.67% of the project starting rate.
At present, the design of the RCEP comprehensive service building has been completed, and the bidding process is scheduled to be launched at the end of June; the ancillary works of the land port bridge is well underway, and the bridge is about to be opened to traffic at the end of June; six standard factory buildings in the ASEAN Industrial Park have passed the acceptance inspection.
It takes a good blacksmith to make good steel. Through accelerating the construction of supporting facilities, Huaihua has been improving the professional service level of the international land port, actively promoting the development of supporting industries, combining the positioning of agricultural industrialization and the actual development of the city to promote agricultural industrialization and the development of seven featured industries worth tens of billions of yuan, providing solid industrial support for the city’s high-level opening-up and high-quality development.
Huaihua International Land Port by the Wushui River (Photo/Pan Yu)
Customs officers check the first shipment of international freight train.
(Translated by Yang Hong)