Though economic activities are hindered by the on-going COVID-19 epidemic, businesses and e-commerce operators in Yunnan have managed to sell local specialties out of the province, and logistic services are carried out in a safe, orderly, and stable manner.

Businesses adopt special measures to sell

"We just shipped 200,000-yuan pickles to Xianning in southeast Hubei, and now 48 tons oranges are being loaded onto trucks in Pu'er City," said a staff member with Yunpinhui, an app selling Yunnan local specialties. The online sellers kept working amid the epidemic.

At an interview on February 21, Ruan Peng, vice president of the online network, said they set up a green-food special service, which has delivered 200 plus tons of fresh foods to Hubei during the epidemic outbreak.

Yunling Fresh is a Yunnan company that plants, processes and supplies organic vegetables. Every week, the company sells around 200 tons to other Chinese localities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. 

Among other things, the company fulfilled a daily supply of 8 tons vegetables to Wuhan, Hubei province, including cabbages, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, and corns.

As a traditional tea producer in Yunnan, the Pu'er Tea Company launched sales on WeChat, Tmall, JD.com and others. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, they have stepped up disinfection and quality management.

“Our gift sets of Pu'er tea boxes are popular among consumers in Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong,” said a staff member. “Some are corporate customers ordering in bulk, others are individuals buying tea gifts for friends and relatives.” 

E-commerce giants spur sales of produces 

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the Yuxi logistics branch of JD. com has sent 42,000 parcels out of Yunnan, while bringing into the province 630,000 parcels. 

The Yunnan digital economy branch of JD.com launched a special program to help sell local flower online. So far, over one million flowers have been sold out.

Alibaba also launched the "Help Farmers" program on February 6, allowing wholesalers and producers of produces to have free presence on its Taobao online market place. 

As of February 20, more than 2.15 kilograms of produces were sold out, including the ones from Yunnan.

Yunnan fresh vegetables also secured presence on Pinduoduo, a Shanghai-based e-commerce platform allowing users to participate in group buying deals.

According a online survey on February 24, the Pinduoduo app has opened the “Help Farmers” page, where 40 varieties of Yunnan fruits and vegetables were on sale, including onions, lettuce and others.

Besides the epidemic hit areas in central China, the Yunnan supplies mostly went to Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Beijing, Shanghai and others.

Reporting by Han Chengyuan, Wang Huan and Liu Ziyu (Yunnan Daily); online photos; trans-editing by Wang Shixue