Container traffic resumes at Vietnam-China border

Vietnam Customs on Monday instructed provincial customs departments to accept new certificates of origin (CO) from China for containers of imported goods held at the border gates of Huu Nghi and Tan Thanh in the northern province of Lang Son.

Vy Cong Tuong, deputy head of the Lang Son Customs Department, confirmed Monday afternoon that there was no cargo stuck at Huu Nghi and Tan Thanh border gates.

The traffic of containers with perishable goods like fruits had resumed at the Huu Nghi border gate as of Monday afternoon. Photo by Lang Son Customs.

The containers with perishable goods had been held up since August 20 because new certificates of origins that importers received from Chinese sellers were rejected by Vietnam Customs.

Many of these contained fruits, causing Vietnamese importers to worry that their cargo would perish and inflict heavy losses with the high cost of parking at the border.

Tuong said that China began issuing a new certificate of origin in accordance with an agreement with ASEAN countries, but it would not take effect until September 12, so Vietnamese customs officers were unable to accept it.

China was the largest exporter to Vietnam in the first seven months of 2019 with a total value of $42.5 billion, up 18.4 percent year-on-year and accounting for 29.5 percent of all imports, according to Vietnam Customs.