A woman works in a cotton field in Awat County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Oct. 25, 2019. With a long history of cotton planting, Awat is known as the "Town of Cotton" in China. (Xinhua/Sadat)

Southern Xinjiang reports soaring agricultural imports, exports. The products were mainly apples, walnuts, oranges and frozen ducks, and the main trading countries include Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.

URUMQI, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has seen robust growth of imports and exports of agricultural products in its southern parts, local customs authorities said Thursday.

From January to November 2019, the import and export volume of agricultural products of southern Xinjiang grew to 120,000 tonnes and the trade volume reached 2.04 billion yuan (293 million U.S. dollars), up 1.1 times and 1.7 times year on year, respectively, according to Kashgar Customs.

A staff member washes apples in an automatic equipment at an agricultural science and technology park in Aksu, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Nov. 28, 2019. (Xinhua/Song Yanhua)

Kashgar Customs said these products were mainly apples, walnuts, oranges and frozen ducks, and the main trading countries include Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.

Tang Mei, from an international freight agent in Kashgar, said that due to the cold weather, the demand for fresh fruits from Central Asian countries has greatly increased.

"With the reduction in customs clearance costs and the increased efficiency of the customs clearance process, the damage to the fruits caused by excess refrigeration has dropped significantly," Tang added. ■