Turtles at a breeding base in Deqing county, Huzhou. [Photo provided to Tide News]

Deqing county in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, has built a fast-growing pet turtle industry worth more than 200 million yuan ($28.1 million) in annual sales, as young breeders return home and local authorities move to scale up the pet economy.

Deqing now has more than 200 pet turtle breeding businesses, according to local data. The county has also developed a comprehensive industrial park integrating breeding, reproduction, sales, research, education, and leisure tourism.

At Jingxin Pet Turtle Base in Sanlin village, Yuyue town, breeder Chen Zhongliang, born in the 1980s, has worked in the sector for nearly 20 years. He began expanding into online sales early, using e-commerce and livestreaming to support wholesale growth and steadily enlarge his business.

Chen said the niche market has gained traction over the past two years, aligning with younger consumers' demand for low-maintenance companionship and personalized consumption. He said turtle sales on Douyin rose 65 percent last year, with livestreaming accounting for 70 percent of transactions on the platform.

Local industry participants say two consumer groups are driving demand. One is urban singles aged 25 to 35, who see turtle keeping as both relaxing and a source of daily interest. The other is older consumers, who favor turtles because they are quiet and relatively easy to care for.

Deqing released a three-year action plan for high-quality development of the pet economy in 2025, placing the sector into the county-level development strategy.

According to the county's agriculture and rural affairs bureau, Deqing has more than 200 turtle breeders, including more than 10 large-scale farms, with a total stock value approaching 400 million yuan.

Deqing last year established what local authorities described as China's first industry association focused on pet turtles. The move reflects an effort to shift the industry from scattered household breeding toward cluster-based, standardized, and branded development, to build a national hub for pet turtle breeding.