GUIYANG — Southwest China’s Guizhou province is to apply stricter standards for its tea products later this year in a bid to guarantee the export quality.

“The provincial standards, coming into effect in November 2018, have been revised for four famous types of local tea leaves, including green tea and black tea,” said Meng Yuguang, deputy chief of Guizhou Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision.

“The revisions require lower levels of pollutants and residual pesticides than the national standards,” Meng said at the opening ceremony of Guizhou tea expo on May 6.

“We now have the strictest tea safety requirements in China,” he said.

“Guizhou has formed a complete tea standard system, with 81 technical standards covering the entire industrial chain, from tea plantation to processing and brewing,” Meng said.

“Guizhou tea has the unique characteristics of rich fragrance, mellowness and pure and bright color,” said Emmanuel Bett Kimutai with the Agriculture and Food Authority of Kenya at the opening ceremony.

The 2018 China Guizhou Global Tea Culture Festival and Tea Expo, which was held in Meitan county of Zunyi, the second largest city of Guizhou, closed on May 7.

Combining ecological advantages of high altitude, low latitude, less sunshine and pollution, Guizhou has the country’s largest tea plantation area (466,700 hectares) in 2017.

In 2017, Guizhou’s tea exports stood at 2,382 tons, worth $7.75 million, up 32 percent and 36 percent year-on-year, respectively.