{"id":39015,"date":"2026-07-07T17:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T15:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=39015"},"modified":"2026-07-07T17:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T15:09:06","slug":"zimbabwe-begins-blueberry-shipments-to-china","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/zimbabwe-begins-blueberry-shipments-to-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe begins blueberry shipments to China"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\">Zimbabwe has started blueberry exports to China, an industry body said on \u200bTuesday, after the two countries agreed a protocol \u200con phytosanitary standards last September.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\nThe southern African country, whose climatic conditions have allowed its production of blueberries \u200bto increase at one of the \u200bfastest rates globally, is seeking to capitalise \u2060on booming demand for the fruit linked \u200bto health benefits.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">It is also one of the \u200b53 African countries with free access to China&#8217;s vast market under Beijing&#8217;s zero-tariff policy that took effect on May \u200b1.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Now, work shifts to scaling production and \u200btesting the best supply routes to this huge new \u200cmarket,&#8221; \u2060the Horticultural Development Council (HDC) said in a statement announcing the first shipment. It did not disclose its size.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Zimbabwe, Africa&#8217;s third-largest blueberry producer after \u200bMorocco and \u200bSouth Africa (SA), \u2060expects to export 12 000 metric tons of blueberries from about 850 \u200bhectares in 2026, from 9 500 tons \u200bplanted \u2060on 650 hectares the previous year, according to HDC data.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">The country&#8217;s main blueberry export markets \u2060are \u200bthe Netherlands, United Kingdom Germany, Spain, \u200bSA, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Arab \u200bEmirates.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":39016,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,44],"class_list":["post-39015","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Zimbabwe is Africa's third-largest blueberry producer after \u200bMorocco and \u200bSouth Africa.","published_date":"","news_description":"Zimbabwe is Africa's third-largest blueberry producer after \u200bMorocco and \u200bSouth Africa.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39017,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39015\/revisions\/39017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=39015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}