A green-skinned fig grown in Weihai, east China's Shandong Province, has transformed from an ordinary fruit selling for just 4 to 6 yuan per kilogram into a premium product priced at up to over 10 yuan each. The transformation has helped boost the total output value of fig industry chain to more than 2 billion yuan.
It took local agricultural authorities three years to achieve this remarkable transformation.
Known for their exceptional quality, Weihai's green-skinned figs are soft, sweet and aromatic. But high rate of losses during storage and transportation, coupled with limited recognition outside the region, have long restricted their market reach and squeezed profit margins, leaving the fruit largely confined to its place of origin.
After conducting field research, Weihai's agricultural authorities launched a three-year plan to bring the fruit into the Shanghai market.
2024 marked a breakthrough year for Weihai's green-skinned figs as they made their debut at the Shanghai agricultural products center wholesale market, where brand promotion, tasting events and buyer-seller matchmaking activities helped win recognition from more than 100 buyers. The retail price reached 65 yuan for a pack of six.
Building on this momentum, Weihai set its sights on the premium consumer market.
In 2025, Weihai's agriculture and rural affairs bureau joined hands with the Shanghai Peace Hotel to launch creative fig-based desserts. By leveraging consumption scenarios, cross-sector integration and emotional connections, the initiative helped establish the figs in the high-end market.
From offline trade fairs and business matchmaking to private-domain sales channels, online platforms, supermarkets and wholesale markets, Weihai has built a multidimensional sales network, which now covers 30 provincial-level regions across China.
According to SF Express, shipments of the fruit grew at a compound annual rate of about 45 percent from 2023 to 2026.
At present, partnerships with more than 2,000 mid- and high-end online and offline stores including Alibaba-operated e-commerce supermarket Freshippo, BGY Fruits and Dingdong Maicai have been established.
The industry chain is expanding to processed products, such as dried figs, fig wine and fig tea, marking a shift from fresh-fruit sales toward integrated development across the entire industry chain. Today, the total output value of Weihai's green-skinned fig industry chain has reached 2.1 billion yuan. (Edited by Li Xueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
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