Cangnan Sijiyou Pomelo Clears Export Hurdle to New Zealand

Summary

A 106-mu standardised Sijiyou pomelo planting base and its supporting packing factory in Zhongkui village, Mazhan town, Cangnan county, Zhejiang province, passed Wenzhou Customs verification in August this year, securing export qualification for New Zealand. The first batch of about 100,000 jin of Sijiyou pomelo will be picked around Lidong, or the Beginning of Winter, and shipped to New Zealand. Mazhan is known as China's hometown of Sijiyou pomelo, with a cultivation history of nearly 300 years.

The town has a stable planting area of about 5,000 mu and an annual output value of 40 million yuan. In the second half of 2025, Cangnan county set the goal of exporting fresh Sijiyou pomelo, and will push forward with full effort in 2026. Guo Xiuzhu, a fruit tree expert with the Cangnan fruit industry service team of Zhejiang province's team-based science and technology commissioners and a researcher at the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Institute of Subtropical Crops, organised three to four intensive training sessions and made 10 to 20 on-site guidance visits.

Together with expert Chen Guanju, she walked through more than 800 mu of orchards in the village and finally designated a contiguous 106-mu base. Lin Nianjiang, head of the base, said meeting export standards requires additional measures such as bagging, hanging insect traps and applying reflective film, adding 200 to 300 yuan in maintenance cost per tree. A relevant official from the Cangnan County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau said the 106-mu pilot base is a standardised model field for the town's Sijiyou pomelo industry, with the core aim of using international standards to drive upgrading across the entire chain of planting, management, harvesting, grading and packaging.

Guo Xiuzhu plans to write regulations on green pest control, precision fertilisation, pesticide residue control and fresh fruit grading into a cultivation manual. After another year of planting according to the regulations next year, an association standard will be applied for, at which point all 800 mu of orchards in Zhongkui village can use it. Mazhan town will also incorporate Cangnan's mountain-and-sea imagery into packaging design, making Sijiyou pomelo a mobile calling card for Cangnan.

Commentary

Cangnan Sijiyou pomelo's obtaining of New Zealand export qualification marks a substantive step by a Chinese local specialty fruit into a high-end international market. New Zealand's quarantine standards for imported fruit are widely recognised as stringent, and passing verification means the product quality has reached an internationally advanced level. For New Zealand small and medium-sized business owners, this is not only a new imported category but also a reflection that China's agricultural supply chain is accelerating its standardisation and branding upgrade.

Cangnan is using the 106-mu pilot base as a model, improving quality through bagging, green pest control and pesticide residue control, and plans to formulate an association standard to drive upgrading across the whole industry chain. This model of using international standards to force industrial upgrading may bring more high-quality Chinese agricultural products into the New Zealand market, offering local importers and retailers opportunities for differentiated product selection. At the same time, Sijiyou pomelo exports will initially mainly target Chinese communities, but the packaging incorporates cultural elements in a bid to expand into the mainstream market.

New Zealand food distributors can pay attention to its brand story and marketing strategy. From a competitive perspective, New Zealand's local citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons have already established a mature market. As a specialty pomelo, Sijiyou pomelo needs to differentiate itself through taste, storability and cultural added value.

In addition, under the China-New Zealand free trade agreement, tariffs on agricultural products have been substantially reduced, but non-tariff barriers such as quarantine requirements remain a key threshold. Cangnan's breakthrough shows that Chinese suppliers are actively adapting. New Zealand small and medium-sized enterprises can use this to assess the potential for cooperation with suppliers of Chinese local specialty agricultural products, especially in the high-end fruit and gift markets.

If Cangnan Sijiyou pomelo's first foray into New Zealand receives good market feedback, it may bring more Chinese citrus products into the market and change the existing imported fruit landscape.

Keywords: Cangnan Sijiyou pomelo, New Zealand export, Wenzhou Customs verification, Mazhan town, Guo Xiuzhu, standardised model field, association standard, 100,000 jin

Summary in Chinese | 摘要

浙江苍南马站镇中魁村106亩标准化四季柚种植基地及配套包装厂于今年8月通过温州海关核验，取得新西兰出口资质，第一批约10万斤四季柚将在立冬前后采摘后发往新西兰。马站是“中国四季柚之乡”，四季柚已有近300年栽培历史，全镇稳定种植面积约5000亩，年产值达4000万元。2025年下半年苍南县敲定四季柚鲜果出海目标，2026年全力推进。

浙江省团队科技特派员苍南水果产业服务团果树专家、省农科院亚作所研究员郭秀珠组织三四次集中培训并现场指导一二十趟，与专家陈官菊走遍村里800多亩果园，最终划定106亩连片基地。基地负责人林念江表示，符合出口标准需增加套袋、挂捕虫器、贴反光膜等措施，一棵树养护成本多两三百元。苍南县农业农村局相关负责人称，106亩试点基地是全镇四季柚产业的“标准化样板田”，核心目的是以国际标准倒逼种植、管护、采摘、分级、包装全链条升级。

郭秀珠计划将绿色防控、精准施肥、农残管控、鲜果分级等规程写成种植手册，明年按规程再种一年后申请团体标准，届时中魁村800亩果园均可使用。马站镇还将苍南山海意象融入包装设计，让四季柚成为流动的“苍南名片”。

Commentary in Chinese | 评论

浙江苍南四季柚获得新西兰出口资质，标志着中国地方特色水果在开拓高端国际市场方面迈出实质性一步。新西兰对进口水果的检疫标准全球公认严苛，通过核验意味着产品品质达到国际先进水平。对于新西兰中小企业主而言，这不仅是新增一个进口品类，更反映出中国农产品供应链正在加速标准化和品牌化升级。

苍南以106亩试点基地为样板，通过套袋、绿色防控、农残管控等措施提升品质，并计划制定团体标准，推动全产业链升级。这种以国际标准倒逼产业升级的模式，可能使更多中国优质农产品进入新西兰市场，为本地进口商和零售商提供差异化选品机会。同时，四季柚出口初期主要面向华人群体，但包装融入文化元素，旨在拓展主流市场，新西兰食品分销商可关注其品牌故事和营销策略。

从竞争角度看，新西兰本地柑橘类水果如橙子、柠檬等已建立成熟市场，四季柚作为特色柚类，需在口感、耐储性和文化附加值上形成差异化。此外，中新自贸协定下农产品关税已大幅降低，但非关税壁垒如检疫要求仍是关键门槛，苍南的突破显示中国供应商正在积极适应。新西兰中小企业可借此评估与中国地方特色农产品供应商的合作潜力，尤其是在高端水果和礼品市场。

苍南四季柚首闯新西兰，若市场反馈良好，可能带动更多中国柑橘类产品进入，改变现有进口水果格局。

关键词: 苍南四季柚, 新西兰出口, 温州海关核验, 马站镇, 郭秀珠, 标准化样板田, 团体标准, 10万斤

Source: Economic and Commercial Office of the Ministry of Commerce at the Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland