Guangxi sweetens China's sugar industry with innovation

As China's "sugar bowl," Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region contributes two-thirds of the nation's sugar supply, with its sugarcane fields spanning 60 percent of the country's total cultivation area.

The 2023/24 harvest season saw record-breaking yields, generating 28.6 billion yuan ($3.9 billion) in revenue for local farmers, a 31 percent year-on-year increase.

An aerial view of high-quality sugarcane base in Huang'an, Laibin. [Photo by Qin Hangwei/Guangxi Daily]

Seed Revolution

Guangxi has broken free from dependence on foreign seed varieties through cutting-edge breeding programs. The region now cultivates 65 locally developed sugarcane varieties, including the high-yield "Guitang 42" and "Guiliu 05136".

At the Guangxi (Pingxiang) ASEAN Cross Border Seed Breeding Center, automated production lines churn out 15 million disease-free seedlings annually.

Mechanization Leap

Satellite-guided harvesters now work alongside mobile processing stations, boosting efficiency tenfold. In Laibin's demonstration farms, smart machinery completes planting and harvesting with millimeter-level precision, while 76 distributed processing centers streamline supply chains.

Digital Transformation

Over 200 hectares of "digital sugarcane fields" employ IoT sensors for real-time crop monitoring. Guangxi's online platforms integrate agricultural data with financial services, having facilitated 13.3 million metric tons of online sugar transactions.

The industry now transforms byproducts into premium goods—from eco-friendly tableware to medical-grade sugar and sugarcane beer—creating new revenue streams. With 166 million yuan invested in tech upgrades, Guangxi's sweet business continues to reinvent itself.