The company plans to place orders during the trade fair for Italian olive oil, Turkish figs and dried apricots and cereals from New Zealand, which are favored by Chinese customers in their supermarkets, he said.

Goods selected from the fair — for example, olive oil from Italy, oatmeal from New Zealand, red wine from Chile, figs and dried apricots from Turkiye, avocados from Mexico and rice and condiments from Thailand — have become popular items among Chinese customers, Zou said.

That includes strawberries, cherries, sweet apricots, grapes, peaches, nectarines, pears, kiwi fruits, jujubes, apples and persimmons.

The investors include renowned enterprises such as Legend Capital, Long Hill Capital, Apricot Capital and Riverhead Capital.

Yingjisha county in Kashi prefecture, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has managed to expand the sales channel of apricots by extending the shelf life.

Currently poverty-stricken, the county began growing apricot trees over 400 years ago.

In 2018, the county started to build a standard management system consisting of the production, packing and sales of apricots, under the support of a local fruit company.

In July 2019, 30 tons of apricots from Yingjisha were transported to Beijing by a cold chain vehicle.

"Last year, my apricot orchard generated nearly 20,000 yuan ($2,860) of income for me after the sales channel became unimpeded," a local farmer shared.