Simulation models of Luosifen are on exhibit at a museum in Liuzhou on October 17, 2019. (Photo: CFP)

South China's Liuzhou city saw sales of a local specialty exceed 30 million yuan in 2020, 35 times higher than the previous year.

The specialty, Liuzhou river snail rice noodles, also konwn as luosifen in China, is what the prefecture-level city Liuzhou is famous for and as a kind of ready-to-serve snack, it is enjoying growing popularity among food lovers around the world.

Once a street snack that people outside of the city knew little about, Liuzhou river snail rice noodles has now become a household name in China when a hit Chinese food documentary, "A Bite of China," featured it in 2012. Mass production of packaged Liuzhou river snail rice noodles started just a few years ago.

Sales of this iconic snack registered remarkable growth in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. "From March last year, exports of Liuzhou river snail rice noodles has gained momentum and was heading for unprecedented growth," said Wu Chunlan, a staff of the city's customs bureau.

Chen Zihao, export sales director of a packaged rice noodle factory, attributed the growth to the local government's support, noting that this specialty industry received a lot of guidance from the market regulator over the past four years. The factory which Chen is working for has established ties with business partners from countries like Singapore, Germany and Italy, and shipments of the packaged snack are also going to be delivered to Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Workers make Luosifen at a local factory in Liuzhou, March 17, 2020. (Photo: CFP)

The seemingly smooth development has not come easy, especailly in the pandemic-hit year. Liuzhou's agriculture and rural affairs bureau and Customs bureau signed a memorandum of cooperation in June 2020, in a bid to build more than 15 demonstration bases for export agricultural products across the city, enabling export-oriented enterprises to share resources with each other and explore the overseas market together.

The city's efforts in improving the business environment has benefitted the specialty industry and other industries. Liuzhou is also working to apply an internet-inspired approach to shorten Customs clearance time and streamline export procedures.

With more standard measures and preferential policies, the city is set to see greater potential in selling the food to the rest of the world and make the local street snack a truly global delicacy.

(Story by Pang geping; Compiled by Lu Dong)