Luoding Cinnamon

Luoding Cinnamon

Luoding Cinnamon is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Luoding Cinnamon, also known as Xijiang Cinnamon, is a specialty of Luoding City in Guangdong Province and a Chinese national geographical indication product. Its products include cinnamon bark, cinnamon oil, cinnamon branches, cinnamon flowers, and cinnamon tops. Every part of the cinnamon tree is valuable with a wide range of uses. The bark is a precious traditional Chinese medicinal material. Cinnamon oil is an important raw material for the pharmaceutical, food, and chemical industries, and is one of the key ingredients in beverages such as Coca-Cola. Luoding Cinnamon boasts high-quality products with a high content of cinnamaldehyde in the oil, which is why most of the cinnamon bark and oil are exported. The bark is mainly exported to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries, while the oil is primarily shipped to the United States, Western Europe, and Middle Eastern countries. Luoding City accounts for over 20% of the domestic export market share for both cinnamon oil and bark.

　　Luoding has a long history of cultivating cinnamon. According to the old "Xinning County Annals," around the year 1850 (during the Qing Dynasty’s Daoguang era), the Zhang family began cultivating cinnamon in Binhecha. By 1949, there were about 70,000 mu of cinnamon trees. Cinnamon has a wide range of uses, high value, and broad market prospects. Since the reform and opening-up, Luoding City, leveraging its mountainous terrain with a climate and geography highly suitable for cinnamon cultivation and the local tradition of growing it, established the guiding principle of using cinnamon farming to enrich the people. It positioned cinnamon as a pillar industry for developing and revitalizing the mountainous economy. The city implemented regional planning, unified layouts, contiguous planting, and formed large-scale production hubs. To ensure the sustained and rapid development of cinnamon production, the city supported agricultural industrialization leading enterprises engaged in integrated cinnamon production, processing, and sales. It also provided strong support in terms of seedlings, production techniques, and funding, leading to significant annual growth in cinnamon production.

　　The Luoding Municipal Party Committee and government have prioritized cinnamon cultivation as part of developing distinctive agriculture and establishing a local pillar industry. By 2004, the city’s cultivation area had reached 460,000 mu, making it a major cinnamon production base in Guangdong Province. In 2004, the city produced over 10,000 tons of cinnamon bark and 450 tons of cinnamon oil. The main producing areas are Bin, Xinle, Lishao, and Sihui towns, with 18 out of the city’s 24 towns engaged in cinnamon cultivation. A 500-mu cinnamon seedling nursery was established in Bin Town, and nearly 100,000 households are involved in cinnamon farming, accounting for over 40% of the city’s total farming households.

　　In terms of processing and sales, the cinnamon tree is peeled after harvesting to produce the bark, while its branches and leaves are processed and distilled to make cinnamon oil. In 2004, over 10,000 tons of cinnamon bark and more than 450 tons of cinnamon oil were processed annually, with over 98% of the total production being processed. The bark and oil are exported globally via the provincial foreign trade department through Hong Kong. In 2004, this generated US$12.65 million in foreign exchange earnings.

　　In August 2002, Luoding City was designated as the “Hometown of Chinese Cinnamon.” The cinnamon bark is registered under the brand name “Sailboat” and qualifies as an export exempt from inspection.

　　Geographical Indication Product Protection

　　In 2008, after review by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, it was decided to implement national geographical indication product protection for Luoding Cinnamon.

　　Protected Area

　　The protected area for Luoding Cinnamon as a geographical indication product is based on the scope proposed in the “Letter on Defining the Production Area of Luoding Cinnamon” (Lu Fu Fa [2007] No. 27) issued by Luoding City, Guangdong Province, covering the entire administrative region of Luoding City.