Briefly

Green tea exports from Henan rise

A Uzbekistan-bound freight train loaded with 1,600 metric tons of Chinese green tea has left the tea cultivation base of Xinyang in Central China's Henan province, marking the largest batch of the city's tea exports so far this year. According to Xinyang Customs, the city has exported 1,893.2 tons of tea so far this year, with a value of 26.7 million yuan ($4.1 million), up 70.2 percent and 53.5 percent year-on-year, respectively. Xinyang is famous for its Xinyang Maojian green tea, a variety that has been exported to Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Zhejiang sees spurt in online retail sales

Zhejiang province, an e-commerce heartland in East China, reported a robust increase in online retail sales in the first two months this year. The online retail sales of the province in the period reached 246.8 billion yuan ($38.05 billion), up 48.5 percent from the same period last year, data from the provincial department of commerce showed. Residents in the province, home to e-commerce giant Alibaba, spent 138.4 billion yuan on online shopping from January to February, up 54 percent on a yearly basis.

Xinhua