Visitors view herbal tea products from Yangquan city at a promotion event in Taiyuan, Sept 25. [Photo/yqnews.com.cn]

The various kinds of herbal tea products being developed by herbal tea producers in Yangquan city in North China's Shanxi province attracted quite a few customers at a recent herbal tea promotion in the city.

The event was part of a broader initiative by Yangquan to expand its market for herbal tea products.

Since the start of the year, Yangquan has been focusing on research and development, brand building and market expansion of its herbal tea industry, based on its rich local natural resources for traditional Chinese medicine and its existing herbal tea sector. 

Visitors view herbal tea products from Yangquan city at a promotion event in Taiyuan, Sept 25. [Photo/yqnews.com.cn]

The city has established a municipal medicinal tea industry development leadership group. This is being led by the mayor and the group is collating public suggestions and research to draw up the city's herbal tea industrial development plans, as well as promotional measures and support policies. 

In addition, a herbal tea industry alliance of 12 local herbal tea producers has been founded. The alliance is committed to formulating development plans and industry standards for the herbal tea industry, establishing a product traceability platform and constructing raw materials production centers for herbal tea. 

The alliance is also providing technical guidance on herbal tea product R&D and production and is supporting the growth of small and micro herbal tea companies.

To make fine herbal tea products and promote the commercialization of technical achievements, Yangquan has helped local herbal tea enterprises establish partnerships with scientific research institutes and universities, including the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Shanxi University. 

The city has proposed developing Yangquan forsythia tea as its representative herbal tea product this year, when it comes to brand building, with a major project involving forsythia tea planting and processing under construction. 

An exhibitor brews up herbal tea from Yangquan city at the promotion event in Taiyuan, Sept 25. [Photo/yqnews.com.cn]

"We will organize activities such as promotional fairs, livestreaming events, tea culture festivals, tourism festivals, tea garden sightseeing and tea tastings and strengthen the integration of herbal tea with health care and rural tourism, so as to improve the popularity and reputation of Yangquan herbal tea products," said An Hairun, director of Yangquan agriculture and rural affairs bureau.

To date, Yangquan has developed a thriving herbal tea industrial sector with forsythia tea as its focus. The city's herbal tea processing volume reached 45.56 metric tons and sales amounted to about 13.8 million yuan ($2.06 million).