China allows the import of Hungarian fresh cherries that meet relevant requirements

China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced on Friday that it has allowed, effective immediately, the import of Hungarian fresh cherries that meet relevant requirements.

It is part of the achievements during Chinese top leader's state visit to Hungary from Wednesday to Friday, during which the two sides have elevated ties to all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership and reached a number of deals in cooperation involving the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), finance, green development, agriculture, tourism and culture.

As China's imports of fresh cherries jump significantly, it is expected that Hungarian fresh cherries will gradually claim a foothold in the fast-growing Chinese market, an industry insider said.

Last year, China's cherry trade reached 351,200 tons, up 77.69 percent from the reading in 2019, data from Chinese research firm Zhiyan Consultancy showed. Among which, China imported 348,100 tons of fresh cherries. And the country roughly consumes 22.7 percent of the global cherry output in 2022, the world's largest market.

In addition to Hungary, about 11 countries and regions have also obtained quarantines access qualification for cherry exports to China to date, including Chile, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.

Observers also said the expanding agricultural trade could be a new growth point in driving the overall trade between China and Hungary, who are each other's major trading partners. Currently, China is Hungary's largest trading partner outside of Europe, while Hungary is one of China's main trading partners in the Central and Eastern European region. Hungary is also one of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) with the largest number of agricultural product export permits to China.

According to the joint statement on the establishment of an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era released by China and Hungary on Thursday, the two sides recognized the huge potential in agricultural cooperation between them and the sound progress made under the framework of the China-CEEC agricultural cooperation mechanism.

The two sides have vowed to utilize the China-Hungary high-level working group on agriculture and other mechanisms, in order to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation between agricultural enterprises of both sides, widen market access, promote the cooperation of "small and beautiful" projects, and strengthen cooperation in areas such as animal health and joint research and development of deep processing technologies for agricultural products.

China's GAC has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on animal and plant quarantine for import and export with Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture during the top leader's visit.

The bilateral trade volume between China and Hungary in 2023 reached $14.52 billion, an increase of 73 percent compared with that in 2013, according to the China-Hungary Investment and Cooperation Report.