Vintage cars show kicks off in London
Gorgeous scenery in NE China
Picturesque Barkol grassland in Xinjiang
Small Wild Goose Pagoda - A World Cultural Heritage Site along the Silk Road
Maritime Silk Road Luxuries of the Han Dynasty
Ciao! Chinese beauties!
An eye feast: BFA freshmen registration
Top 10 most lavish weddings
Most amazing chi-pao beauties
Chinese lingerie brand arrives in Las Vegas
CHANGCHUN, Sept. 23 -- Chinese farmers are eagerly anticipating support from domestic e-commerce giant Alibaba after it pledged to reinvest funds from its record initial public offering (IPO) into supporting them to sell their products online.
The company, which has made a fortune from Taobao.com, its e-commerce platform connecting small businesses with millions of online buyers, set a world record with its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Its stock has since jumped 32 percent from the IPO price of 68 U.S. dollars a share to 89.89 dollars when markets closed on Monday, valuing the company at around 218 billion U.S. dollars.
At a ceremony in northeast China's Jilin Province on Monday, Alibaba group president Jin Jianhang said that business-customer e-commerce in the agriculture sector, along with big data and cross-border e-commerce, will be the company's main business focuses after the stock market listing.
Jin said Alibaba is committed to establishing a dedicated agricultural platform on Taobao.com, through which farmers selling products will be able to enjoy services including marketing and logistical support, as well as product tracing.
Individual farmers' access to market has long been an issue for Chinese agriculture, but Sun Dianpu, head of the commerce bureau of Gongzhuling City, Jilin, said the bureau will provide farmers with training to help them sell on Taobao.com.
Yu Xianghai, manager of the website's innovation department, said that China's agricultural areas, though economically backward, produce high-quality goods, while local farmers have a strong desire to improve their lives by selling their products via online retailing channels.
Jin said Alibaba may cooperate with Evergrande Group in developing agricultural e-commerce in the northeast China region.
Evergrande, the Guangzhou-based real estate company, has recently moved into the agricultural sector by launching a series of products including organic rice and oil.
The logo of the company's grain and oil brands, produced by its newly purchased production bases in northeast China, were first unveiled in August on the shirts of soccer players with Guangzhou Evergrande, a club in which Alibaba is a shareholder.
Jin said future cooperation between Alibaba and Evergrande in agriculture e-commerce will boost rural consumption, employment and income in northeast China, known as the country's breadbasket.
It has generally been considered difficult to sell farm produce via e-commerce platforms. However, sales through Taobao.com grew at an annual average of 112.15 percent from 2010 to 2013.
And with the development of cold chain logistics, these sales are expected to reach 80 billion yuan (13 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, up from 3.7 billion yuan in 2010.
Military training in Hong Kong
Teahouses in Chongqing: Worship to the leisure lifestyle
Giant white gourd weighing 87 kilograms appears in SE China
Advanced arms help to safeguard China-ASEAN Expo
Leading director Wang Quan'an detained for 'buying sex'
Heaven on earth: Dongjiang Lake in Hunan
Mixed reaction to smartphone sidewalk
Amazing aerial photos of China's Xisha Islands
Top 10 world's highest-paid models 2014
Lingerie show at 2014 Miss China
Songstress Li Xianglan dies at 94
Police recruiting posters
Anshun Daxi- Living fossil of Chinese drama
Urban farmers in China
'Firepower-2014 Weibei'military exerciseDay|Week|Month