China’s Hekou Land Port Reopens to Vietnamese Fruit

According to Vietnamese media, the Hekou–Lào Cai border crossing was reopened to fresh fruit from Vietnam on Jan. 12. The border crossing stopped processing Vietnamese dragon fruit between July 18 and Aug. 17 of last year owing to positive SARS-CoV-2 test results obtained for samples taken from the outer packaging of several shipments of this fruit. This one-month closure immediately caused dragon fruit prices in Vietnam to plummet. The latest shutdown of the Hekou–Lào Cai border crossing occurred on Dec. 25, 2021. Between then and Jan. 11, 2022, the crossing was partially closed to the flow of people and goods, forcing numerous fruit trucks from Vietnam to divert to other ports of entry including the Friendship Pass for customs clearance.

On Dec. 28, 2021, local authorities in Pingxiang County in China’s Guangxi province issued an announcement stating that the Friendship Pass would be closed to Vietnamese dragon fruit from Dec. 29, 2021, to Jan. 26, 2022, because samples taken from Vietnamese dragon fruit had recently tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus three times. It is hoped that the resumption of operations at the Hekou–Lào Cai border crossing will relieve the severe congestion recently witnessed at border crossings in Vietnam’s Lang Son and Quang Ninh provinces.

The Dongxing–Móng Cái border crossing, which has been reopened since Jan. 10, recently closed its pontoon bridge area for a short period of time in response to a positive test result obtained for a sample taken from a shipment of Vietnamese mangos. After implementing disinfection measures, the area resumed operations on the afternoon of Jan. 12.

According to the agreement reached between China and Vietnam, the Dongxing–Móng Cái border crossing is set to run for 12 hours each day, with a maximum daily clearance capacity of 150 trucks. By Jan. 12, the number of trucks stuck at the border crossing had been drastically reduced, with only 424 trucks on the Chinese side and 206 trucks on the Vietnamese side.

Image: Pixabay

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