Border province to stop receiving fruit trucks from Jan. 17

This is meant to allow over 1,500 trucks currently stranded at the border to complete customs procedures to enter China, the province People’s Committee said.

Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, China has recently tightened checks on imported goods and their transport, leading to congestion of Vietnamese container trucks at border gates over the past month.

Each day, they complete customs clearance for 80-100 trucks, with 70 percent of the vehicles carrying agricultural products, mainly fruits.

As of Jan. 12 morning, at the three border gates of Huu Nghi, Tan Thanh and Chi Ma, 1,548 trucks had been stranded, with nearly half carrying fruits.

The province said it needs about half a month to release all the stranded goods.

Last week, Lang Son advised localities nationwide not to transport goods to border gates, but over 100 trucks still carry goods to the province each day.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh asked the two northern provinces of Lang Son and Quang Ninh to recommend localities and enterprises not to transport goods to border areas, and stop receiving them if trucks continue to carrying goods there.

He also asked ministries, sectors and localities to strive to release all the stranded goods before the Lunar New Year (Tet).

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam earned $1.75 billion from exporting fruits and vegetables to China in the first 11 months of 2021, up 3.6 percent year-on-year despite Covid-19 impacts. China remained Vietnam’s top fruits and vegetables export market with a market share of 54 percent in the 11-month period.