How far can a single Xunwu honey mandarin travel?
It sets out from an orchard in the hills of Ganzhou, heads south on a refrigerated linehaul route, pauses at a high-standard cold store at Yuhu Cold Chain, then is sorted, packed and dispatched to order. By the next morning it may be on a fruit stall in a Hong Kong market — or aboard a vessel bound for Southeast Asia and tables further afield.
From 11 to 12 September, the “Jiangxi Breaks Out, Jiangxi Shines” Jiangxi Premium Agricultural Products (Greater Bay Area) Production-Sales Linkage and Import-Export Matchmaking Event was held at Yuhu Cold Chain (Guangzhou) Trading Centre. Hosted by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jiangxi Province, the event set out to deepen agricultural cooperation between Jiangxi and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and to connect Jiangxi’s premium agricultural products with Bay Area consumer markets, modern distribution channels and import-export resources. Around 300 people attended, including the supervising leadership of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jiangxi Province and the head of its Market and Foreign Affairs Division, representatives of foreign consulates general in Guangzhou, officials from the Jiangxi Provincial Representative Office in Guangdong (Shenzhen), heads of municipal agriculture and rural affairs bureaus across the province, and exhibiting companies alongside Bay Area buyers, channel partners and logistics providers.
Once again, mountain met sea at Yuhu Cold Chain (Guangzhou) Trading Centre.
Mountain Meets Sea, and Jiangxi Arrives Prepared
On the morning of 11 September, the atrium of Zone B at the Guangzhou Trading Centre filled with voices and cooking aromas. More than 40 booths lined the space, presenting products from Nanchang, Ganzhou, Yichun, Ji’an, Fuzhou (Jiangxi), Shangrao, Jiujiang, Pingxiang, Jingdezhen, Yingtan and Xinyu — all 11 of the province’s prefecture-level cities were represented.
The booths read as a condensed gazetteer of Jiangxi produce. Golden Gannan passion fruit; tender Taihe silkie chicken and Ningdu yellow chicken; Shenglong fresh beef; specialty poultry eggs in their natural flavours. Gougunao tea, Gannan high-mountain tea, vine tea and organic camellia oil carried the freshness of green hills; crayfish and Junshan Lake hairy crab spoke of a land of fish and rice; while quick-frozen ready-made meals, selenium-rich rice, fruit and vegetable juices and snack foods served as modern footnotes to industrialisation. Many products hold green food, organic and geographical indication certifications, along with export credentials including HACCP, ISO 22000, US FDA registration, EU organic certification and Halal certification. Jiangxi produce, once tucked away in the hills and fields, had come well prepared. The pauses, price enquiries and negotiations at the booths were the clearest evidence of how deeply the fair engaged its visitors.
The fair ran for two days. Alongside it, the “Mid-Autumn Abundance, Fresh Cheers for National Day” Global Ingredients Trade Fair was in full swing across the Guangzhou park, with over 120 booths and several hundred resident merchants taking part amid a rush of stocking for the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays. The flow of visitors and trade gave the event its distinctly Bay Area buzz.
Photo gallery from the fair
Two Years In: From Opening Move to Win-Win Chain
The Bay Area’s appetite for Jiangxi produce was not built in a day.
Speaking at the opening, Zheng Min, Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial Agricultural Technology Extension Centre, said the commitment shown by all parties throughout the Jiangxi Pavilion’s operation was valuable proof that Jiangxi agricultural products have secured a core display and matchmaking channel in the Bay Area. Yuhu Cold Chain’s support policies, he noted, lower operating costs for resident companies and help them open up the Bay Area market. He encouraged Jiangxi entrepreneurs to make full use of the Jiangxi Pavilion — built jointly by Yuhu Cold Chain and leading Jiangxi agricultural enterprises — to grow quickly into strong operators rooted in the Bay Area agricultural market.
Zheng Min, Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial Agricultural Technology Extension Centre, delivers his address
Rewind to 18 April 2024. The GBA Jiangxi Pavilion at Yuhu Cold Chain (Guangzhou) Trading Centre was unveiled, and 24 leading Jiangxi agricultural enterprises were the first to take the plunge, entering the heart of the Bay Area with a “direct from origin, direct to the Bay Area” model. The first scorecard beat expectations: in its opening year, contracted transactions exceeded RMB 300 million, with five front-running companies each passing RMB 30 million on their own.
Behind the numbers sit stories of businesses turning a page. Among the companies based in the Jiangxi Pavilion, Jiangxi Huaying Poultry now moves more mottled duck through Yuhu Cold Chain in a single month than it previously sold in a year within Jiangxi. Ningdu yellow chicken broke through on a competitive bidding model for regional distribution rights, becoming a standout name for Jiangxi produce in the Bay Area. Lu Xiaolian cut logistics costs by 70% within a single year and won a major co-branded fresh lotus seed mooncake order from a premium Bay Area restaurant chain. A group of companies have been successfully incubated at Yuhu Cold Chain’s Jiangxi Premium Agricultural Products GBA Brand Operations Centre, sharpening both product recognition and brand influence.
Photo gallery: presentations by producer companies
The challenges are real too. The Jiangxi Agricultural Products Bay Area Marketing White Paper, released last year, found that around 65% of Jiangxi agricultural products lack end-to-end cold chain protection on the journey to the Bay Area, and that fewer than 35% of Bay Area consumers could name three or more Jiangxi agricultural brands. Yuhu Cold Chain’s answer is its own Online-Merge-Offline (OMO) integrated trading platform and a shared agricultural distribution ecosystem, filling the gaps in the chain link by link. High-standard cold stores, end-to-end temperature control, a forward warehouse network, outsourced warehousing and distribution, supply chain integration, shared marketing and single-code traceability bring the freshness of the hills to Bay Area tables with less loss and in less time.
Two years of sustained work have turned quantity into quality. The GBA Jiangxi Pavilion has continued to draw supply chain companies from Jiangxi’s cities, counties and provincial groups; more than 30 companies have opened export channels under Yuhu Cold Chain’s guidance; and nearly 20 large-scale events have attracted over 2,000 downstream buyer visits, with cumulative exposure exceeding 12 million. The Yellow Paper on Jiangxi Premium Agricultural Enterprises Entering the Bay Area and Going Global, officially released at this event, selected 521 companies — one in ten — scored from a pool of nearly 6,000 recommended candidates spanning leading enterprises, export champions, Ganpo Authentic Products brands, hit-product makers and small-but-fine specialists. Together, those 521 companies form a vivid map of Jiangxi’s premium agricultural producers moving into the Bay Area and out to the world.
From an opening move to a chain of shared prosperity: on this supply chain, where Yuhu Cold Chain serves as the anchor enterprise, every link keeps generating new value. That confidence is precisely what made the matchmaking and signing on 12 September feel like a natural next step.
The signing ceremony
Targeted Matchmaking: A Method for Entering the Bay Area and Going Global
On the morning of 12 September, the production-sales linkage and import-export matchmaking session opened on schedule at the Convention Centre on the fourth floor of Building A1. Following remarks from leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jiangxi Province, delegates gave keynote presentations on entering the Bay Area, going global, “AI+” and “platform+”. These were followed by a showcase of Jiangxi premium ingredients, the release of Bay Area purchasing and export demand orders, and the signing of Jiangxi agricultural product sourcing projects, with a batch of purchasing partnerships confirmed on site.
Li Jianhua, Founding President of the Guangdong Cold Chain Association: A new landscape for premium agricultural products entering the Bay Area and going global
Fu Guohua, Chief Information Officer of Yuhu Cold Chain: AI empowering the agricultural supply chain
On the afternoon of the 12th, several targeted matchmaking sessions ran in parallel, each addressing a key link in the chain from the Bay Area to overseas markets.
The reverse sourcing session wrote demand-driven production into the process. Dedicated zones covered instant retail and e-commerce supply chains, ready-made meal ingredients, foodservice and group catering, export markets and the Changsha market. Buyers set out their requirements first and suppliers responded to them directly, replacing scattergun pitching with focused negotiation.
Targeted matchmaking at the reverse sourcing session (gallery)
The Hong Kong and Macao supply and export tasting session took aim at the barriers to going global. Export market trends, target market access standards, quality certification systems, packaging and labelling rules, customs clearance procedures, international logistics and overseas channel building — the technical questions that trip up producers — were worked through in person by the Jade Premium team, Yuhu Cold Chain’s import and export trading arm. A landlocked province with neither border nor coastline put caviar from Jiangxi Xunhuang Technology Co., Ltd., already sold across many countries, in front of Hong Kong buyers in the tasting room; the fruit quality of Jiangxi brand Chengxiang Jili and its packaging designed specifically for the Hong Kong market drew unanimous praise from Hong Kong buyers. A batch of export orders and foreign trade service partnerships followed.
The Hong Kong and Macao supply and export tasting session
The Jiangxi–Guangdong logistics and GBA forward warehouse session shored up the foundations. Cold chain logistics, warehousing and distribution, linehaul and supply chain service providers from the Bay Area sat down with Jiangxi companies to work through refrigerated transport, inventory turnover, urban distribution, transit times, logistics costs and end-to-end traceability — costing the options and straightening the routes. Another set of logistics service partnerships took root.
Taken together, the sessions were a concentrated demonstration of Yuhu Cold Chain’s approach to working with producing regions. A Jiangxi company that moves into the park gains an outpost in the consumer market; the online platform combined with offline field promotion brings buyers directly to it; outsourced warehousing and distribution and supply chain finance lower total delivery costs; credentials, customs services and order support open the international route; and the origin and temperature record of every item is a scan away. Under the “AI+” theme, digital transformation across this chain is accelerating, and the OMO model — online trading, offline fulfilment — is making Jiangxi’s move into the Bay Area more precise and its move overseas faster.
Li Junyan, Senior Vice President of Yuhu Cold Chain (China) Co., Ltd., said:
“This is the third year the Jiangxi premium agricultural products Bay Area showcase has been held at Yuhu Cold Chain. One pavilion, one chain, one shared journey — it has given Jiangxi agricultural products confidence in their origin, their quality, their collective strength and their network.”
From producing region to the Bay Area, on to RCEP markets and to tables worldwide, the world open to Jiangxi produce keeps widening. More than 30 Bay Area trade bodies attended, among them the Jiangxi Chamber of Commerce in Guangdong, the Guangdong Cold Chain Association, the Guangdong Chain Operations Association (GDCOA), the GuangDong Group Catering Association, the Guangdong Catering Service Industry Association and the Guangdong Organic Agriculture Association; the Shenzhen Grain and Vegetable Basket Federation, the Shenzhen Group Catering Industry Association and the Shenzhen Fresh Food Cold Chain & Urban Logistics Association; the Zhuhai Food Supply Chain Association; the Guangzhou Culinary Association and the Guangzhou Tea Industry Association; the Functional Food Committee of the China Green Food Association; the Hong Kong Food Innovation and Technology Centre (HKFIT-Hub); and the World Master Chefs Association for Cantonese Cuisine. The buyer line-up spanned group catering, foodservice, retail, e-commerce, processing and supply chain channels, with sourcing needs — from fresh ingredients, rice, flour, grain and oil to ready-made meals, snacks and festive gift boxes — closely matched to what Jiangxi companies supply. The matchmaking zones stayed busy throughout, with buyers and suppliers exchanging contacts and arranging samples and quotations.
Production-sales linkage lunch: guest remarks (gallery)
A Window That Stays Open: From a Two-Day Meeting to a Year-Round Partnership
Trade fairs close. The chain does not.
The more enduring window is the Jiangxi Premium Agricultural Products Brand Operations Centre (GBA Jiangxi Pavilion) at the Trading Centre, open and on display year-round, keeping Jiangxi brands present in the Bay Area market. Beyond two days of meeting lies a 365-day partnership.
Exterior of the GBA Jiangxi Pavilion at Yuhu Cold Chain
Huang Jiebin, General Manager of the Yuhu Cold Chain Guangzhou park, said:
“We have always worked to provide comprehensive supply chain services and ecosystem support for producer companies, helping them set aside the worries of operating across regions and open up markets faster and more effectively. With Yuhu Cold Chain’s services, companies can operate with far greater peace of mind: more accurate warehousing and logistics monitoring, lower loss rates, lower costs, and shared market intelligence that makes winning customers and selling products easier.”
Huang Jiebin introduces the platform’s services to companies based in the Jiangxi Pavilion
As the host venue, Yuhu Cold Chain (Guangzhou) Trading Centre offers Jiangxi producers integrated support across display, matchmaking and distribution. Companies can place goods in advance in Yuhu Cold Chain’s Greater Bay Area forward warehouses, with Yuhu Cold Chain connecting warehousing, distribution and order fulfilment in a single stop to bring transaction costs down. Companies with export ambitions can go further, accessing credentials, certification, packaging and customs clearance services.
Jiangxi Pavilion tour (gallery)
Agriculture authorities at provincial, municipal and county level in Jiangxi will continue to deepen production and sales cooperation with the Greater Bay Area, drawing on the Yuhu Cold Chain platform and the Jiangxi Premium Agricultural Products Brand Operations Centre to bring more Jiangxi-branded produce into the Bay Area and overseas, and to open new possibilities for Jiangxi products in the region.
Jiangxi’s breakout rests on the origin advantages of a province rich in geographical indications, supported by quality built on industrialisation and green natural endowments — and on the work done at every link of the supply chain. Through Yuhu Cold Chain’s collaborative approach, the high-quality supply chain formed by this ecosystem has become a genuine win-win chain, and the distance between mountain and sea is no longer far.
That mandarin from Ganzhou may right now be resting quietly in a temperature-controlled cold box. Its next stop is the Bay Area — and the world.
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