Pomelo is here! The sweet start of the export season for "Fujian style" honey pomelos - the first batch of honey pomelos from Fujian Province in the new season are rushing to Europe to compete for freshness

On July 31st, the honey pomelo processing workshop of Youquanfa Fruit and Vegetable Co., Ltd. in Zhangzhou City was a busy scene. Workers were orderly grading, packaging, and boxing honey pomelos, and the air was filled with fresh fruit aroma. On the same day, this batch of Pinghe honey pomelos weighing 16.4 tons was inspected and found to be qualified by Zhangzhou Customs officers under Xiamen Customs, and successfully loaded and shipped to the European market, marking the official start of the 2026-2027 Fujian honey pomelo export season.
As a golden signboard of Fujian's characteristic agricultural products, Zhangzhou Pinghe honey pomelo has a cultivation history of more than 500 years. As early as the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Pinghe honey pomelo was renowned for its "large fruit like a bucket, sweet and delicious". Scholars in the Qing Dynasty even placed it on par with lychee and kumquat, praising it as a "hero among fruits". Nowadays, Pinghe honey pomelo, known as the "natural canned fruit", relies on the superior natural conditions and mature planting techniques in the local area. It is not only popular in the domestic market, but also sold to many countries and regions such as Europe, America, Russia, and New Zealand with its excellent quality of thin and juicy skin, sweet and slightly sour taste, and seedless flesh. It is a star product of Fujian's agricultural product exports.
Our Three Red Honey Pomelo, Red Pomelo, and White Pomelo have firmly established themselves in large overseas supermarkets such as Southeast Asia and Europe. Last year, we first opened up the New Zealand market and received a good response, "said Zhou Xiaolan, the general manager of Youquanfa Fruit and Vegetable Co., Ltd. in Zhangzhou City." Thanks to the suitable climate conditions during the growth period of honey pomelos this year, the fruit hanging of honey pomelos is good, and the quality and yield are guaranteed, which makes us look forward to this year's export season with full confidence, "Zhou Xiaolan said.
As an early maturing variety, 'June White' is our export 'pioneer general'. It not only has thin skin and thick flesh, abundant moisture, but also has an early maturity period, which can fill the off-season of grapefruit fruit supply in overseas markets. Zhou Xiaolan added, 'We fully utilize the ripening time difference of different varieties to layout overseas markets, optimize the export variety structure, and further enhance international competitiveness.' With the smooth export of the first batch of honey pomelos, Zhangzhou Youquanfa Fruit and Vegetable Co., Ltd. will closely arrange subsequent shipments according to overseas order situation, and continuously deliver high-quality honey pomelo sources to overseas consumers' dining tables.
Huang Juanjuan, Deputy Director of the Product Supervision Department of Zhangzhou Customs, said that as early as a few months before the production season, the customs had joined forces with relevant departments in Pinghe County to carry out foreign trade policy lectures for local export orchards and packaging factories, helping export enterprises to do their homework in advance. Accelerating the customs clearance process is equally crucial. In response to the high clearance efficiency of fresh agricultural products such as honey pomelos, we actively promote the intelligent inspection mode of 'batch inspection (quarantine)' for exported agricultural and food products, and combine convenient measures such as appointment inspection and 'cloud issuance' of export inspection and quarantine certificates to fully compress the waiting time and customs clearance time of enterprises, ensuring that honey pomelos are put on the overseas market for 'grabbing freshness', "said Huang Juanjuan.
According to statistics, in the previous season of honey pomelo production, Zhangzhou Customs supervised a total of 180000 tons of honey pomelo out of peace, with a year-on-year increase of 10.1% in export volume. The impressive results have added considerable confidence to the new season of honey pomelo export this year.
Throughout the upcoming honey pomelo production season, we will continue to optimize regulatory services, improve the 'direct connection between customs and enterprises' mechanism, safeguard honey pomelo exports, and help more Zhangzhou specialty agricultural products go further and more steadily in the international market, "said Huang Juanjuan.