2020 Guizhou Tea Industry Expo kicks off in Zunyi

The purchaser conference of the Guizhou Tea Industry Expo is held in Meitan county, Zunyi. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 12th Guizhou Tea Industry Expo kicked off in Zunyi, Southwest China's Guizhou province on May 28, attracting the participation of tea companies and tea dealers from across the country.

Unlike previous expos, this year's event set up parallel sessions in Guizhou's cities and prefectures, in addition to the main venue in Zunyi's Meitan county.

The expo included various activities to coordinate the production and sale of tea from May 28 to 30, and also organized an online expo, purchaser conference, exhibitions, inspections and business negotiations.

The online expo was started on April 18 and will go on indefinitely. Through online promotions, exhibitions, interactivities, e-commerce sales platforms, live broadcasts, and online entrepreneurship training, Guizhou aims to promote its green agricultural products to the world.

By May 26, the online expo had uploaded 59 kinds of products, and achieved a sales volume of 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), with 65,822 products sold and 6.87 million page views.

In recent years, Guizhou has positioned the tea industry as a poverty alleviation pillar industry, a green industry and a featured agricultural industry.

Relying on its advantages of low latitude, high altitude, cloudy weather and pollution-free environment, Guizhou focuses on promoting the standardized management of tea gardens, which cover an area of over 7 million mu (466,666.67 hectares), ranking the first in China for seven consecutive years.

Guizhou's tea export volume exceeded $100 million last year, which makes tea the most exported agricultural product in the province.

In addition, Guizhou's tea output reached 401,000 metric tons, with an output value of 45.12 billion yuan, an increase of 10.7 percent and 14.5 percent respectively.

The tea industry has increased the income of 3.56 million people, including 348,100 low-income people, and helped 174,600 people shake off poverty.