Goji berries from Ningxia, a regional name card and a traditional food and medicine, used to sell at relatively low prices due to technological limitations.
However, in recent years, the sector has made breakthroughs in the deep processing of berries by producing related healthy products, including fruit sugars and beverages.
Zhongning Goji, a multicompany goji berry brand from Ningxia's Zhongning county, is renowned as the first to have a standardized planting base and also to receive orders from overseas.
Last year, Ningxia produced 260,000 tons of fresh goji berries, resulting in production value of 21 billion yuan, and the processing rate of 200 goji berry producers has reached 25 percent.
The region plans to develop a batch of companies and brands related to healthy foods and support companies in the production of new products such as instant foods and snacks to cater to the booming market demand, according to the region's 14th Five-Year Plan.