Staff members from the customs inspect the lychees to be exported. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

The first batch of 800 kilograms of lychees from Guangzhou's Zengcheng was dispatched to Thailand via Zengcheng Customs under Huangpu Customs on July 2, being the first of its kind to be exported to countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The lychees from Anhe Orchard in Zengcheng have been known as a local specialty and are also one of Zencheng's major bulk agricultural products for export.

"The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in overseas countries made us quite worried about whether the lychees could reach markets in time," said the general manger surnamed Zhou from the company running the orchard.

"High demands have been set for maintaining the freshness of lychees, yet the number and intervals of international flights have been reduced due to the pandemic. We could only catch the earliest plane as fast as we could to make sure the products can reach markets in Thailand in time," added Zhou. 

A symposium was held by Huangpu Customs and the Zengcheng agriculture and rural affairs bureau in May on the export of fruit, in which relevant policies on fruit export were explained and guidance was offered to companies in areas like orchard management and registration.