The 2021 Guangxi Tea Industry Expo commences in Guilin on April 23. [Photo by Ou Huilan/chinanews.com]

The 2021 Guangxi Tea Industry Expo, jointly held by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Guilin municipal people's government, kicked off in Guilin on April 23.

The expo, which covers an overall area of more than 10,000 square meters, includes a total of 346 standard exhibition booths. Nearly 3,000 tea products, brought by around 300 companies, were on display during the expo. 

The expo includes six themed activities, such as a tea leaf appraisal, trade fairs, a summit forum on the high-quality development of Guangxi's tea industry, and on-site tours of local tea gardens.

Guangxi has a long history of planting tea leaves and has rich selenium resources, making the region one of China's major tea production areas.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), Guangxi's tea industry witnessed rapid development. Its tea production grew by 40.16 percent, from 63,000 metric tons in 2015 to 88,300 tons in 2020, while its tea plantation area increased by 34.76 percent from 1.02 million mu (67,733 hectares) in 2015 to 1.37 million mu in 2020.

An official from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region noted that Guangxi's tea production and plantation area in 2020 both ranked among China's top 10, and the value of the region's tea industry reached 26 billion yuan ($4 billion).

Guangxi now is home to 1,300 tea companies, 59 of which are refined tea processing companies above designated size. An industrial enterprise above designated size refers to one that has an annual operation revenue surpassing 20 million yuan.

The number of specialized tea growing cooperatives in the region stands at 711, and there are more than 500 registered trademarks among the area's tea products.

Its unique natural environment has helped Guangxi cultivate a batch of national famous tea brands such as Liubao Tea and Hengzhou Jasmine Tea.