Fruit of Ponkan.

A new fruit, the size of an orange but sweet and juicy as a tangerine, is about to hit the market. The local government of the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, an area of great natural beauty in south China's Hunan Province, is actively promoting sales of Chinese Honey Oranges – known locally as Ponkans.

The Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, a well known tourist destination, now has more to share with the world than its natural beauty. On December 29, the government of Xiangxi held a news conference in Beijing to launch the new product.

Chinese Honey Oranges are the size of an orange but they have a thin skin and are as sweet and juicy as a tangerine. The fruit has been rated a top quality product in Hunan for several years, but now the local authorities are moving to market it throughout China and the world.

Over 50 distributors attended the promotional conference, including Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market, and major supermarket chains such as Walmart, Carrefour and Metro. Altogether they signed agreements to purchase more than 166,000 tons of Honey Oranges.

The government of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture holds a news conference in Beijing to launch and promote Ponkan on December 29. [China.org.cn]

According to Wu Yancheng, the vice head of Xiangxi Prefecture, wintertime – from December to February – is the top sales period for Honey Oranges. He said distribution has been made easier by a new highway from Xiangxi to Hunan's capital city Changsha, which opened to traffic on December 18 this year.

Hoping to boost local farm incomes, the Xiangxi government has decided to give priority to vehicles transporting Chinese Honey Oranges by pledging that they will not be examined, detained, charged or fined. Distributors delivering the fruit for Spring Festival will also be given freight subsidies of 20 yuan per ton.

(China.org.cn by Yan Pei, December 30, 2008)