BANGKOK – China has opened two more border points for transportation of Thai fruit just in time for the beginning of fruit harvest season in late April.
Chinese authorities opened the Dongxing border point for trucks and the Pingxiang border gate for transportation by train in addition to the existing Youyi Guan border checkpoint.
Department of Agriculture director general, Sermsuk Salakpetch said Thai farm produce were transported through Laos, Vietnam and entered China at Youyi Guan border crossing, overwhelmed with vehicles during the strict screening amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, closure of Chinese-Vietnamese border crossings in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to curb the outbreak forced Vietnamese fruit transport trucks to use Youyi Guan checkpoint the same as Thai trucks.
Long queue of vehicles stretched for 15 kilometres and delayed transportation affected the quality of Thai fruits. For example, durians ripened before they could reach consumers, Sermsuk noted.
The Department of Agriculture and the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards discussed the border-traffic problem with the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC).
China authorities then decided to open two more checkpoints for Thai fruit imports.
The first one is the Dongxing border point in Guangxi Zhuang, opposite MongCai of QuangNinh Province in northern Vietnam, which have capacity to serve at least 2,000 goods vehicles per day.
Meanwhile, the Ping Xiang border gate, opened for train transportation allows container vehicles to switch fruit transport from truck to train.
The opening of the new border channels will help relieve traffic congestion at the existing Youyi Guan border checkpoint.
The department will inform Thai fruit exporters about the new alternative for their fruit transportation to China’s market, the director-general said. (TNA)
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