From Yunnan to Macau: A 12 hour "Fresh" Journey of Flowers (Image)

The picture shows customs officers inspecting Huang Miaoshuang in the exhibition area of fresh cut flowers supplied to Australia

On the morning of December 19th, at 7am, in the processing workshop of Riri Flower Farm in Tanzhou Town, Zhongshan City, workers were sorting flowers that had been air freighted from Yunnan in an orderly manner. During the scissor lift, blue embroidered balls were quickly put into bags and then transported to the matching cold storage.

The cold storage door opened, and a refreshing coolness hit my face. Li Jianqiang is inspecting the cut flowers that have just been sorted and packaged. This is the first batch of fresh cut flowers that will be sent to Macau today. They will arrive at the new Macau flower shop in 3 hours.

As the person in charge here, Li Jianqiang's work trajectory changed with the change of the flower transportation route, from Foshan to Tanzhou in Zhongshan. Previously, our flowers were packaged in Foshan, but this year we have opened a new air route through Zhuhai, making Tanzhou a more convenient transit hub, "he said, wiping away the remaining leaves on the workbench." After establishing a foothold in the Zhongshan and Zhuhai markets, we wanted to expand into the Macau market, but we didn't know what the Macau plant quarantine standards were or how to go through the customs clearance process. At that time, the Macau store was about to open, and we were so anxious that we couldn't sleep

Yu Bowen, the head of the Inspection and Quarantine Department at the Shiqi Office of Zhongshan Customs under Gongbei Customs, is responsible for the import and export plant quarantine work in the Zhongshan area. After receiving a consultation from the enterprise, he immediately led a team to the flower field to provide guidance on the quarantine requirements for fresh cut flowers supplied to Australia. From the pest control facilities in the processing plant to the packaging materials, key points were marked one by one.

The 3000 roses and 2000 lilies previously declared need to undergo on-site quarantine. At the 9 o'clock flower field, Yu Bowen is checking the variety and quantity of fresh flowers in the cold storage and randomly opening boxes for inspection. After the implementation of paperless pilot for plant quarantine certificates, enterprises no longer need to go to the site to collect paper certificates, and electronic certificate data can be directly connected to Macau. With the addition of 'priority inspection and rapid release inspection', the clearance time has been reduced by half, "Yu Bowen said while inspecting, and the whole process took less than 20 minutes.

At this point, the truck has arrived on time. The flowers with air conditioning were carefully carried onto the truck by the workers. The truck drove out of the flower field and headed towards Macau. Li Jianqiang looked at the truck that was far away and sighed, "Now it takes less than 12 hours to air freight from Yunnan, assemble goods in Tanzhou, and then clear customs to Macau. The freshness of the flowers has greatly improved compared to before

According to statistics, since the flower farm obtained export qualifications more than three months ago, Zhongshan Customs has supervised a total of 53 batches of fresh cut flowers supplied to Australia, with a value of about 600000 yuan. Since the return of Macau 26 years ago, we have accurately focused on the needs of Macau residents and ensured the safe and stable supply of livelihood materials. In the first 11 months of this year, we supervised 15841 tons of fresh vegetables supplied to Macau, a year-on-year increase of 10.6%, "Yu Bowen said." At the same time, we have promoted the diversification of livelihood materials supplied to Macau through innovative supervision. Fresh cut flowers supplied to Macau is our first business this year

When the first ray of sunshine in the morning shines into the flower shops in Macau, those flowers with Yunnan morning dew and Tanzhou temperature are embellishing the happy time on both sides of the Haojiang River in the most beautiful posture. (Written by Yang Runzi, Meng Juan)