In the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam, traditional Chinese medicinal herb slices from Bozhou, Anhui Province, are becoming the local people's "favorite."

"Once these batches of processed herbal slices are sorted, they will be shipped off to Vietnam," said Yang Dan, Manager of the International Trade Department at Anhui Xiehecheng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., with a smile in the company's goods storage center recently. "The influence of traditional Chinese medicine culture abroad is growing significantly, leading to an increasing number of overseas orders for these herbal slices." 

Customs data shows that in the first half of this year, Bozhou City exported medicinal herbs worth 350 million yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.6%. Its export value accounted for over ninety percent of the province's total herbal export volume.

The entry of Northern Anhui's medicinal herbs into the international market reflects a microcosm of our province's development in agricultural product exports. "In the first half of this year, the province exported agricultural and food products totaling 6.98 billion yuan, up 10.6% year-on-year," introduced an official from Hefei Customs.

Any product destined for export must undergo a series of complex and stringent declaration and approval processes, with even higher requirements applying to the agricultural and food product sector. In the view of Zha Weimin, Factory Director of Huangshan Biyun Tea Factory, exporting high-quality tea is no easy task.

Addressing the concerns of enterprises, Huangshan Customs leveraged its advantages in technology, information, and management. It promoted green pest control measures in tea plantations and used its national-level tea testing laboratory as a fulcrum to build a safety network covering 800,000 mu of tea gardens. "Now our tea quality improves year after year, and sales overseas are getting better and better," said Zha Weimin.

"We have established a 'green channel' for exported tea, implementing a '7×24 hours' appointment inspection mechanism to ensure tea undergoes immediate inspection upon arrival and is released promptly upon passing quality checks—meaning 'goods checked upon arrival, released upon qualification'," said an official from Huangshan Customs. "Simultaneously, we are vigorously promoting the 'Advance Declaration + Cloud Issuance' model, enabling enterprises to complete customs clearance procedures entirely online without leaving their offices." In the first half of this year, Huangshan's tea exports reached 730 million yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 16.5%.

More innovative supervision models are continuously helping Anhui-produced agricultural and food products expand into new markets.

An official from Hefei Customs stated they will continue to build upon industrial strengths, make every effort to ensure the effective implementation of the General Administration of Customs' three-year special action plan supporting agricultural and food product exports, and boost more "Anhui products" onto the global stage. 

Source: Anhui Daily