"We have built processing factories, design teams and unified procurement systems that link agricultural cooperatives and farmers across dozens of villages, turning sponge gourds - a traditional side crop - into a scalable, export-oriented industry," a sales manager at Yuangeng Longshang, a local producer and exporter of sponge gourd-related products, told the Global Times.

　　Processors in Shangcheng have developed more than 60 loofah product lines - ranging from bath sponges and kitchen scrubbers to pet toys and cultural-creative items - and sell them via Amazon, AliExpress, Temu and other platforms to more than 50 countries and regions, according to media reports.

　　In the first half of 2026, Shangcheng"s e-commerce transaction volume of loofah-made products exceeded 30 million yuan, up 35 percent year-on-year. At present, the annual comprehensive output value of the loofah industry in the county has exceeded 100 million yuan.

　　Apart from sponge gourds, corn has also found a new way to become cloth.

　　"Unlike traditional synthetic fibers made from petroleum, the core ingredient of our flagship Sorona-based series comes from corn," Hong Boqi, general manager of Chuanyue New Material Co, a domestic cloth supplier, told the Global Times.

　　The process of making Sorona starts by fermenting corn sugars to extract Bio-PDO (a bio-based chemical building block, essentially a plant-derived version of the molecule used in certain plastics). This is then polymerized and spun into yarn and finished fabric.

　　The company has independently developed more than 300 Sorona fabric varieties, said Hong.