The county of Linyi, Shanxi province, an important apple production area in China, this year established itself in Heihe, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, for expanding its apple market into Russia.

Zhang Yong, head of the Linyi county business and commercial bureau, said during this year's second Apple Festival, held this month in Heihe, that he hoped the Russian market will be open to Linyi apples.

The provinces in Northeast China have always been the crucial apple sales areas for Linyi, with 30 percent of Linyi's apples sold there each year. "The Blagoveshchensk of Russia, sitting on the opposite bank of Heihe, is the largest fruit distributing center of Russia in the Far East area, which is the reason why we chose Heihe as the destination of this year's apple festival," Zhang added.

The manager from an export and import company of Russia said during the sales exhibition of the festival that the apples from China are more tasty and cheaper, therefore, the Russian businessmen are quite interested in the Shanxi apples.

On the sales exhibition during the festival, a total of 22 sales contracts, valued at 2.26 billion yuan ($371.29 million), had been signed between Linyi and Heihe, and between Linyi and Russia, and 520 million jin (260 million kg) apples were to be sold.

Eidted by Nigel Moffiet