Puzhai–Tan Thanh Border Crossing Opens to Vietnamese Durians

According to officials from the Dong Dang Economic Zone Management Committee in Vietnam’s Lang Son province, there has been a significant increase in the number of fruit trucks heading toward the Friendship Pass border crossing since May 22.

As of 8 p.m. on May 26, a total of 605 vehicles were waiting on the Vietnamese side of the Friendship Pass, with 185 of them waiting inside the port area. The following morning, 430 vehicles were queuing up on National Highway 1A, and the line even extended all the way to Lang Son city. In order to prevent further traffic congestion, starting from 3 p.m. that day, all vehicles were directed to enter the non-duty-free area for further waiting. By 8 p.m. on May 28, a total of 898 vehicles were waiting to pass through the land port, including 538 trucks carrying fruit.

There are currently nine border crossings between China’s Guangxi province and Vietnam, but only six of them are open for the import of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables. In particular, Vietnamese durians can generally only enter China through the Friendship Pass crossing, which has resulted in over half of the vehicles passing through this channel being durian trucks. To address this problem, officials from the two countries engaged in negotiations and agreed to extend the daily clearance time to 8 p.m. (Hanoi time). This extension adds two extra working hours compared with early May.

Furthermore, the Vietnamese government has actively pushed for the opening of the Puzhai–Tan Thanh border crossing to Vietnamese durians. As of May 29, a total of 48 trucks carrying 745 metric tons of durians had successfully reached China through this crossing.

It is now the peak season for durian production in Vietnam. The country is expected to harvest 650,000 metric tons of the fruit in the second and third quarters of 2023. Consequently, it is anticipated that in the coming weeks, vehicles laden with durians, lychees, mangos, dragon fruit and jackfruit from various regions of Vietnam will start to amass at land ports. As a result of the long waiting times and hot weather, many of these fruits could spoil before reaching China, forcing them to be sold locally at very low prices or even discarded.

As of May 30, over 1,600 batches of Vietnamese durians had been exported to China through the Friendship Pass crossing, amounting to a total volume of nearly 60,000 metric tons. In May alone, the border crossing handled over 17,500 metric tons of Vietnamese durians. Looking ahead, it is estimated that the volume for June will exceed 20,000 metric tons.

Image: iStock

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