Gansu's GI-protected Jingning apples expand global reach with new Nepal shipment

Two trucks carrying 63 metric tons of apples left Jingning county in Gansu province for Kathmandu and are expected to arrive on Feb 10. The shipment underscores continued demand in Nepal, a longstanding foreign market for the county's fruit.

The cargo is moving under a multimodal arrangement that combines road and sea transport. The apples travel through the ports of Qingdao in Shandong province or Shenzhen in Guangdong province to Kolkata, India, before making the final leg by road to Nepal in a fully enclosed cold-chain system.

By the end of 2025, Jingning's cumulative apple exports had reached 320,000 tons with a total value of 2.25 billion yuan ($312 million), according to the Jingning Fruit Industry Association. Shipments in 2025 alone totaled 25,500 tons worth 226 million yuan, accounting for more than 86 percent of the county's overall foreign trade.

Fruit exports in January 2026 were valued at 29 million yuan, a rise of 10 percent compared with the same period last year, said Ren Junxia, an official with the Jingning county bureau of commerce.