Fresh Fruit Imports Resume on Trial Basis at Vietnam–China Border Crossing

On June 27, China resumed on a trial basis the import of three key Vietnamese fresh fruits via the Lao Cai–Hekou border crossing after suspending fresh fruit imports through the crossing earlier this year as part of its COVID-19 prevention measures, Vietnamese media outlets are reporting.

Vietnamese dragon fruit, lychees and mangos may now pass through China’s Hekou International Border Gate, which is the counterpart to Vietnam’s Kim Thanh II border gate. The crossing joins Lao Cai province in northwestern Vietnam to Yunnan province in southwestern China.

Ha Duc Thuan, deputy head of the Lao Cai Port Management Committee, said that the Kim Thanh II international land port had suspended customs clearance procedures since Feb. 17 owing to China’s strict epidemic prevention regulations. After extensive communication and negotiation between authorities on both sides of the border, China finally agreed to reopen the crossing for the aforementioned three types of fruits on a trial basis.

The product that most stands to benefit from this change in policy is dragon fruit. Historically, China has imported large volumes of dragon fruit from Vietnam, but several key crossings were closed to the fruit in late 2021 and early 2022. Closures and delays at the overland border crossings upon which Vietnamese exporters depend to get their fresh fruit to China have been a source of great pain for Vietnam’s fresh fruit export industry over the past few years.

On the first day of the trial, two trucks laden with Vietnamese dragon fruit and lychees passed through customs smoothly. If shipments continue to meet China’s COVID-19 control requirements, it will pave the way to China officially resuming normal trade of Vietnamese agricultural products at the Lao Cai–Hekou crossing.

The Lao Cai Port Management Committee stated that it was negotiating with Chinese counterparts to resolve difficulties in exporting fresh produce to China and improve trading conditions for Vietnamese agricultural product exporters.

Image: Pixabay

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.