A farmer dries freshly harvested loofah sponges in Fulong township, Jiujiang, East China's Jiangxi Province. File photo: VCG

Chinese plush toys, new-energy vehicles and robots often grab global headlines. Beyond the spotlight, however, many unassuming Chinese exports are quietly making great gains in markets around the world.

Recently, 14,040 specific pathogen free (SPF) eggs, also known as "diamond eggs" and prized as a critical raw material for vaccine research, took off from Beijing Daxing International Airport and landed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

In the first half of 2026 alone, exports of Beijing-produced SPF eggs topped 400,000 units, soaring 254 percent year-on-year. Their export value exceeded 3.8 million yuan ($563,364), up 166 percent year-on-year. Both figures already surpassed the full-year total for 2025, according to statistics from the Beijing customs.

"Diamond eggs" are not alone. Many processed farm goods from various regions across China, ranging from loofahs to new corn-based synthetic fibers to "icy persimmons," are reaching consumers in many countries and regions around the world, with rising export volumes.

Behind the headline numbers lies a quiet change: China is no longer content to ship out raw apples, live fish, or unprocessed grain. It is climbing the value chain - turning farmyard staples into high-value, shelf-ready products for markets around the world, Zhu Qiucheng, CEO of Ningbo New Oriental Electric Industrial Development, told the Global Times.

New e-commerce stars

In Shangcheng County, Central China's Henan Province, the loofahs once lived a quiet life next to the stove - serving as kitchen scrubbers. Today they are a cross-border e-commerce star.

"We have built processing factories, design teams and unified procurement systems that link agricultural cooperatives and farmers across dozens of villages, turning sponge gourds - a traditional side crop - into a scalable, export-oriented industry," a sales manager at Yuangeng Longshang, a local producer and exporter of sponge gourd-related products, told the Global Times.

Processors in Shangcheng have developed more than 60 loofah product lines - ranging from bath sponges and kitchen scrubbers to pet toys and cultural-creative items - and sell them via Amazon, AliExpress, Temu and other platforms to more than 50 countries and regions, according to media reports.

In the first half of 2026, Shangcheng's e-commerce transaction volume of loofah-made products exceeded 30 million yuan, up 35 percent year-on-year. At present, the annual comprehensive output value of the loofah industry in the county has exceeded 100 million yuan.

Apart from sponge gourds, corn has also found a new way to become cloth. 

"Unlike traditional synthetic fibers made from petroleum, the core ingredient of our flagship Sorona-based series comes from corn," Hong Boqi, general manager of Chuanyue New Material Co, a domestic cloth supplier, told the Global Times.

The process of making Sorona starts by fermenting corn sugars to extract Bio-PDO (a bio-based chemical building block, essentially a plant-derived version of the molecule used in certain plastics). This is then polymerized and spun into yarn and finished fabric.

The company has independently developed more than 300 Sorona fabric varieties, said Hong.

The firm is also exploring seaweed. Working with a domestic biotech partner, it created an "ice algae mud" functional fabric. Natural seaweed is finely ground and combined with a composite powder made from nephrite, then processed through a specialized spinning method. The finished textile is designed for recycling, reinforcing its green credentials. 

Behind these advances lie years of patient research and development. Chuanyue invests about 4 million yuan annually in early-stage material development, covering the full journey from lab innovation to finished fabric, said Hong.

Innovative ways

Apart from being processed into industrial products, Chinese fresh fruits and vegetables are also processed in innovative ways to reach global consumers.

For example, Hainan Nicepal Industry Co is not simply selling fresh fruit. Instead, it uses advanced spray-drying technology to turn fresh fruits into fruit powders, concentrated juices, and not-from-concentrate (NFC) purees. 

Pan Fengying, deputy general manager of the Hainan-based company, said that the company's output value reached 600 million yuan last year, and this year's target is 1.2 to 1.5 billion yuan, according to local media.

And in Yi County, North China's Hebei Province, fresh fruit that once spoiled quickly or fetched rock-bottom seasonal prices is now processed into "icy persimmons," which made exports easier.

In April 2026, the first batch of 15,000 persimmons was sent to Toronto, Canada. In the first half of this year, the sales volume of the ice-ripened persimmons in the county increased eightfold compared to the previous year; the annual production is expected to be 20 times that of last year, local authorities said.

Through controlled processes of de-astringency, sugaring and rapid freezing, the fruit develops a creamy, ice-cream-like texture while retaining its natural sweetness. Local authorities built a shared industrial park complete with standardized workshops, fully automatic production lines and large-scale intelligent cold storage, allowing micro- and small-sized firms to "move in without having to prepare for everything."

The China Agricultural Sector Development Report 2026, released in June, projected a pivot toward higher-value agricultural exports from 2026 to 2030. Categories such as processed fruits and nuts, frozen fruits, fish fillets and frozen vegetables are flagged for strong growth potential. 

The message is clear: volume still matters, but value and differentiation matter more. 

How did the "sudden" upgrade of the agricultural sector happen? Analysts pointed to two major reasons: pursuit of high-quality development and resilient supply chains.

China has emphasized high-quality development, guiding enterprises to focus more on quality over quantity. This has led to deep processing, brand building and new quality productive forces in the agriculture sector, said Zhu.

Zhu also noted that the speed and completeness of China's resilient supply chains are powering the transformation. Every link - from raw materials to finished goods, including processing, packaging, and logistics - is tightly connected.