South China's Guangxi forges closer economic ties with ASEAN

As a fresh batch of imported fruits hit the shelves of a local grocery store in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, shoppers flocked in large numbers to grab the new arrivals. Connected with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by land and sea, Guangxi has built closer economic ties with ASEAN countries amid China's wider opening-up. In the first eight months of this year, the trade corridor saw 498,600 TEU containers transported by the railway intermodal freight trains, up 26.8 percent year on year, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. "Thanks to improved cold-chain logistics, land transport has gradually replaced air freight to meet our demand of importing more durians, as sales at a local store in Nanning can reach up to 100,000 yuan daily during the peak season," Zhang said. As Guangxi enhanced its infrastructure construction over the past decade, the region's foreign trade volume with ASEAN countries rose from 74.75 billion yuan in 2012 to 282.12 billion yuan in 2021, an average annual growth rate of 15.8 percent. The value of Luosifen sold to ASEAN countries in H1 has already exceeded last year's total," said Ou Haoxuan, with Guangxi Luobawang Brand Management Co., Ltd., a major Luosifen producer.