Northern province proposes exporters halt goods transport to China border

The proposal was sent to cities and provinces on Dec. 4 as some 2,460 container trucks, with 60 percent carrying fresh fruits, remain stranded at border gates in Lang Son, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

Some border gates including Tan Thanh and Coc Nam are still offering temporary customs clearance, allowing only a few containers through to China each day. 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.

Vietnamese exporters have been encouraged to ensure goods and their packages are free of Covid, and to increase their quality.

Late last week, the Vietnamese government instructed nine ministries and sectors to jointly deal with goods congestion in Lang Son and other northern border provinces. Lang Son will continue working with Guangxi, China to speed up clearance of perishable agriculture goods.

Vietnam’s agricultural exports to China have been held up on numerous occasions this year due to Covid-related restrictions.

China is one of Vietnam's top trading partners. The import-export turnover of agro-forestry-fishery products between the two countries had grown strongly from $8 billion in 2015 to $11 billion last year.

China was Vietnam's second-largest export market for agricultural, forestry and fishery products behind the U.S., posting an export turnover of $8.4 billion in the first 11 months of the year, accounting for 19.2 percent of Vietnam’s total agricultural exports.