Yanchi County in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is stepping up efforts to take its halal and specialty food products into overseas markets, with the Middle East emerging as a key target for its e-commerce expansion.

The initiative was highlighted at the fifth Western E-Commerce and Cultural Tourism Consumption Promotion Series and the Minning Cooperation and Exchange activities, which opened in Yanchi on September 4.

The three-day event brought together more than 100 representatives from e-commerce platforms, supply-chain companies, industry organizations and businesses.

Discussions focused on cross-border logistics, digital transformation and strategies for reaching overseas consumers.

Reaching Overseas Consumers

A major focus was helping local businesses, particularly producers of halal and specialty foods, develop new routes into international markets.

Representatives from TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Middle Eastern e-commerce platform Noon presented their platform policies and discussed opportunities in emerging markets, including the Middle East.

Cross-border service providers also shared approaches to market operations and brand development for companies seeking to expand abroad.The event marked the start of construction of the Ningxia-Yanchi Silk Road E-Commerce Comprehensive Service Center.

It also featured the signing of an agreement to establish an overseas warehouse network under the Silk Road E-Commerce initiative, while a digital exhibition hall developed under the Fujian-Ningxia cooperation program was launched.

An exhibition area featured agricultural and specialty products, medical devices, industrial materials, halal foods and cultural products, including Tan sheep leather crafts.

Yanchi is particularly known for its Tan sheep industry, making halal meat and related products a natural part of its overseas market strategy.

Yanchi has been designated as one of China's national demonstration counties for rural e-commerce.

The county has cultivated 182 e-commerce businesses and created more than 6,800 jobs. Its "Shicheng Zhenxuan" platform, which is a core digital hub and public-service platform for eastern Ningxia to connect e-commerce resources from the southeast coast and link up with Silk Road cross-border markets, has brought together more than 700 suppliers and offers more than 3,000 products.

Going forward, the "Shicheng Zhenxuan" platform will further deepen Fujian-Ningxia industrial cooperation.

Leveraging the iterative upgrading of cross-border supporting services at the Silk-Road E-Commerce Public-Service Center, it will build a nationwide multi-site overseas warehouse network, improve the regular operation capacity of digital cloud exhibition halls, and form a closed-loop service chain covering quality control, marketing & sales, livestreaming, cross-border logistics and overseas distribution.In 2025, Yanchi's online transaction volume exceeded RMB 8 billion ($1.1 billion), while online retail sales reached RMB 720 million, according to local reports.

The county is now looking to build on that domestic e-commerce base by connecting local producers with international platforms and logistics networks.

The strategy could also find relevance in other major halal-producing markets in the Middle East.

Companies including Meituan and Haoniu Group also participated in the event, promoting direct-sourcing and supply-chain models as part of efforts to strengthen links between producers and consumers.