Recently, the official website of the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) updated the "List of Fresh Fruit Types and Exporting Countries/Regions that Obtained Inspection and Quarantine Admission in China", adding pineapples from Benin in Africa.

GACC approved the export of Beninese pineapples to China in September last year, and the update on 19 January showed that a total of 226 orchards in Benin, as well as two packing plants and two fumigation treatment plants, have been granted export codes to China.

Benin has been growing pineapples commercially since the 1980s, and in 2009 production reached 222,000 tonnes. Pineapple is now grown on more than 6,000 hectares in Benin, with an annual production of about 400,000 tonnes. Pineapple has become one of Benin's main export agricultural products, and it is also the first fruit product of Benin to gain access to the Chinese market. The pineapple sector currently accounts for 1.2 per cent of Benin's national GDP and 4.3 per cent of agricultural GDP, after cotton and cashew nuts.

Benin is currently Africa's fourth-largest pineapple exporter, with Cayenne and Sugarloaf (sweetbreads) being the main varieties grown locally.2023 During the Expo, around one tonne of sweetbread pineapple made its debut in the Chinese market. Although the skin looks green, the flesh is sweet and juicy in the mouth, and is known as one of the sweetest pineapple varieties in the world.

Between 2000 and 2014, Benin's pineapple trade with the EU grew nearly six-fold, at one point reaching 400,000-500,000 tonnes/year. in 2017, Beninese pineapple exports to the EU were suspended due to excessive pesticide levels. The Beninese government then managed to solve the problem and resumed exports, and Beninese pineapples regained favour in the EU market. Now the European market is still the main export destination for Beninese pineapples, and with the opening of the Chinese market, Benin hopes to export 300,000 tonnes of pineapples to China every year.

In order to prevent pests from being imported with the cargo, pineapples destined for China should be fumigated with methyl bromide under the supervision of the Beninese side against the apple codling moth. The fumigation indicators are as follows: temperature above 21.1°C, fumigant dosage of 32 g/m3, duration of fumigation at atmospheric pressure of not less than 2 h, and minimum concentration during the fumigation period of 26 g/m3 for 0.5 h and 16 g/m3 for 2h.