Bamboo industry thrives in Southwest China

CHENGDU - The bamboo industry is thriving in Southwest China's Sichuan province.

Last year, the output value of the bamboo industry totaled 14.9 billion yuan ($2.15 billion) in Sichuan's Yibin city, which accounted for 32.4 percent of the province's total, according to figures released at China (Yibin) International Bamboo Industry Development Summit & Trade Fair which closed on the weekend.

The local government has decided to invest 100 million yuan each year in the following three years to support the development of the industry.

This year, the output value from more than 226,667 hectares of bamboo forests in Yibin is expected to jump to 21 billion yuan, according to the summit.

The bamboo industry is huge in China, where people have a long history of growing and using bamboo. The total value of the country's bamboo industry exceeded 200 billion yuan in 2018, according to official figures.