E-commerce boosts sales of agricultural products in China

Thanks to e-commerce platforms and live-streamed e-commerce, edible mushrooms in Gutian county, Ningde city, southeast China's Fujian Province are getting on the dining tables of people across the country.

"Our snow fungi are particularly sought-after in livestreams," said Huang Zhongsheng, general manager of a company in Gutian county. In Gutian, 70 percent of agricultural populations engage in the supply and sale of edible mushrooms, and the output of the edible mushroom industry accounts for 70 percent of the county's total agricultural output.

Livestreamers advertise pears at a pear planting base in Jinbi township, Qianxi city, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Photo/Zhou Xunchao)

Huang's company received 600,000 orders for products of Gutian snow fungi through e-commerce platforms in the first half of 2023. "It's something we couldn't imagine in the past," Huang said.

Huang's company established a cooperative, which attracted mushroom farmers. In the past, the cooperative mainly sold mushrooms to supermarkets, farmers' markets, and processing plants. In 2020, it began to sell products on Douyin E-commerce under Chinese online video-sharing platform Douyin.

"E-commerce platforms help send products from their places of origin directly to the dining tables of people at more affordable prices. Through livestreams and short videos, more people know Gutian's edible mushrooms and the methods of cooking mushrooms," Huang said, adding that many viewers place orders.

Data showed that from January to June this year, Fujian witnessed a year-on-year growth of 178 percent in the sales of edible mushrooms, and a 117 percent year-on-year increase in the number of product varieties on Douyin E-commerce.

In addition to Gutian's snow fungi, agricultural products from other places in China, including Yantai apples from Yantai city, east China's Shandong Province, have also seen brisk sales on e-commerce platforms in recent years.

In Luoshayang village, Pingnan county of Fujian, livestreamer Tian Xiaoyu, born after 1995, runs an online store, which is seeing rising sales.

After attending an e-commerce training class organized by the county, Tian introduced knowledge about edible mushrooms and the culture of Fujian-style mushroom soup in livestreams or short videos, gradually winning the trust of customers. She also promoted an instant mushroom soup product for those living a fast-paced lifestyle.

"Primary agricultural products can hardly be sold at a good price in the market, but the problem can be solved if we work harder on brand building," said Tian. A stable supply chain system was established, providing job opportunities in sales, sorting, packaging, and delivery for nearly 300 villagers.

Rural e-commerce has motivated migrant workers, college graduates, and ex-servicemen to return to their hometowns in rural areas to start their own businesses. Data shows that by the end of 2022, the number of rural online merchants in China exceeded 17.3 million.

Last year, online retail sales in China's rural areas reached 2.17 trillion yuan ($297 billion), and online sales of the country's farm produce rose 9.2 percent year on year to 531.38 billion yuan.

Not long ago, China's Ministry of Commerce and other eight departments jointly issued a three-year action plan aimed at enhancing the nation's county-level commerce system.

The plan called for promoting high-quality development of rural e-commerce, vigorously developing livestream e-commerce, cultivating brands of local specialties, and encouraging entrepreneurship and employment in the e-commerce sector in rural areas.