E. China's Heze opens green channel for fresh-cut flower exports to Los Angeles

A flight carrying boxes of fresh-cut Chinese herbaceous peony flowers departed from Heze City in east China's Shandong Province on April 16. Transferring through Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, the flowers were en route to their destination in the U.S. city of Los Angeles.

This is the first exporting service of Chinese herbaceous peony flowers completed by Heze Mudan Airport since the adjustment of COVID-19 response, as well as the first cross-border exporting service via connecting flights on the air route linking Heze and Guangzhou, marking the official launch of a green channel for the exports of Heze's fresh-cut Chinese herbaceous peony flowers through air transportation.

To ensure the smooth transportation of fresh-cut flowers, the Heze airport has been working closely with multiple parties including the carriers and customs departments, committed to jointly promoting development of the city's cross-border e-commerce and rural revitalization.

Supported by a smart customs platform that collects and translates the quarantine standards for exporting fresh-cut flowers to foreign countries, Heze Customs has opened a green channel for fresh agricultural products exports, speeding up customs clearance procedures, according to Song Jun, an official with Heze Customs.

In recent years, flower farmers in Heze have been actively engaging themselves in promotion events for fresh-cut flowers of overseas markets including the European Union, North America and Southeast Asia.

Given the expanding international market for Heze's fresh-cut flowers, the newly-opened air freight channel helps lower costs and shorten transportation time to quite a large extend. "It used to take five days for our fresh-cut flowers to arrive in Los Angeles," said Duan Aifeng, representative with a local peony company, noting that the journey only takes 48 hours now.