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CR Express brings hope to Wenjiang plant industry

Wenjiang holds a ceremony to celebrate the first CR Express transport of the district’s banyan trees to the Netherlands on Dec 20. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Some 19,140 banyan trees were transported from Wenjiang district to Netherlands in Europe via China-Europe Railway Express (CR Express) for the first time last December, bringing hope to local planters, who have struggled with China’s banyan market downturn.

According to the Wenjiang district plant bureau, the development of Wenjiang’s plant industry has slowed since 2013 and plant prices have dropped significantly.

Official statistics from the plant bureau reveal that the sales volume of Wenjiang plants saw a year-on-year increase of 15 percent in 2016, while the sales amount only increased by 10 percent. Due to the price decrease, the value of the district’s plants decreased from 30 billion yuan ($ 4.34 billion) in 2013 to 16 billion yuan in 2016.

An official from the Sichuan Provincial Bureau pointed out that the supply exceeding the demand is one of the reasons Wenjiang’s plants have fallen in price.

The news that Wenjiang’s plants would enter the foreign market after the operation of the CR Express brought new hopes to local planters. According to local authorities, the first batch of plants transported to Europe was from Sichuan Hexun Import and Export Enterprise. The price of the 19,140 banyan trees reached 43,000 dollars.

According to Zhang Yang, deputy director of the Wenjiang district plant bureau, transportation time has been cut from 32 days to 13 days after the CR Express began operations, which largely increases the survival of the plants.

Edited by Zachary Dye