Recently, the Shandong Qixia Fruit Auction Center located in Qixia, a county-level city in Yantai known as the "Hometown of Apples in China", began operations with the advent of apple season.

Covering an area of 122,000 square meters, the center was approved by the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce and is the first of its kind in the country, amounting to a total investment of 207 million yuan ($30.62 million).

Based on general practices of apple production and marketing in China and learned methodologies of Dutch flower and Japanese apple auctions, the center has adopted an open descending price auction format.

With anticipated year trading capacities reaching one million tons, the center is equipped with the most advanced auction system produced by AUCXIS, a leader in e-trade systems headquartered in Belgium.

The auction system is connected with the banking system, which processes same day transactions.

Spot transactions are conducted on-site, with open information about the product variety, specification, grade and quantity of fruits.

The Shandong Qixia Fruit Auction Center. [Photo/gppmzx.com]

Apples are weighed and rated before an auction. [Photo//gppmzx.com]

The trading floor of the Shandong Qixia Fruit Auction Center. [Photo/gppmzx.com]