In Laibin city on Thursday afternoon, Xi visited a sugarcane base and a sugar company where he learned about the planting and harvesting of sugarcane and the development of the sugar industry.

The president urged Guangxi, the country's major sucrose production base, to further develop its characteristic sugar industry in order to play a bigger role in ensuring national sugar security and increasing sugarcane farmers' incomes.

Noting that China's sugar industry faces fierce international competition, Xi called for efforts to boost sci-tech innovation, extend the industrial chain and increase added value to promote the industry's high-quality development.