Workers load apple packages ready for shipment to Nepal. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Two trucks carrying 63 metric tons of apples left Jingning county in Gansu province for Kathmandu and are expected to arrive on Feb 10. The shipment underscores continued demand in Nepal, a longstanding foreign market for the county's fruit.

The cargo is moving under a multimodal arrangement that combines road and sea transport. The apples travel through the ports of Qingdao in Shandong province or Shenzhen in Guangdong province to Kolkata, India, before making the final leg by road to Nepal in a fully enclosed cold-chain system.

By the end of 2025, Jingning's cumulative apple exports had reached 320,000 tons with a total value of 2.25 billion yuan ($312 million), according to the Jingning Fruit Industry Association. Shipments in 2025 alone totaled 25,500 tons worth 226 million yuan, accounting for more than 86 percent of the county's overall foreign trade.

Fruit exports in January 2026 were valued at 29 million yuan, a rise of 10 percent compared with the same period last year, said Ren Junxia, an official with the Jingning county bureau of commerce.

Jingning is China's largest apple-producing county in terms of large-scale cultivation, with more than 66,700 hectares of orchards. Its apples hold national geographical indication status and are covered by the China-EU mutual GI protection agreement.

"This batch is expected to arrive in Kathmandu by Feb 10," said He Penghu, head of Long Yuanhong Fruits Selling Co. He said the company expects its export volume to grow 15 percent year-on-year in 2026.

Ren said the county plans to maintain sales in established destinations while seeking buyers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East as it works to expand its reach abroad.