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A China-Europe freight train leaves Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province on June 8, 2021. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

A China-Europe freight train carrying 100 twenty-foot equivalent units of green tea leaves produced in Shengzhou, a county-level city in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, departed from Yiwu to Tashkent, Uzbekistan on June 8.

Green tea leaves from Shengzhou are popular in the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. In 2020, China exported about 293,000 tons of green tea leaves, of which Shengzhou alone exported about 100,000 tons.

However, the export of green tea leaves was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The China-Europe freight train service has proved to be more advantageous compared with maritime and air transportation during the pandemic, according to a tea company in Shengzhou.

The cargo routes linking Yiwu with Europe via Xinjiang in Northwest China is considered a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative to boost trade between China and countries participating in the program. To date, there are 14 routes departing from Yiwu to 101 stations in 49 countries and regions.

"It is the first time in the Yangtze River Delta that a whole train was launched only to export green tea," said a senior director of the Department of Commerce of Zhejiang province about the train that departed on June 8.

Shengzhou will further cooperation with the China-Europe freight train service, according to the city's commerce bureau.