XI'AN, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- An industrial park in Meixian County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Wednesday, dispatched 40 tonnes of kiwifruit for export to Santiago, capital of Chile.

It is the first for China to export kiwifruits to South America, and the shipment is being transported via cold-chain logistics.

The province's Baoji customs said it has strictly controlled the monitoring of orchard pests with a full-chain source tracing system and standardized packaging management in accordance with the necessary inspection and quarantine requirements for exports to Chile.

Located in the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, Meixian County is one of the most suitable areas for growing kiwifruit, thus dubbed "Hometown of Chinese Kiwifruit."

So far, some 20,000 hectares of kiwifruit have been grown in the county, with its annual output value exceeding 3 billion yuan (about 441 million U.S. dollars) for the past five years.