Dried litchis exports to China

Lying stretched out in the cabin of a container carrier, Tran Trung Tam, a vehicle driver, has been waiting for goods from Tam Binh fruit wholesale market in Thu Duc district for the past week.

“The goods owner hesitates to send another consignment of fruit because he heard that fruits are getting stuck at Tan Thanh border gate,” Tam said, although he could not explain exactly why fruit is having a problem getting across.

China, it seems, has been checking imports of all goods more carefully in the past month.

Le Xuan, Director of the Department of Agro-Forestry Product Processing and Salt Industry, on June 10 said that in the last few days, exports of rubber and seafood going to China met a lot of difficulties because of strict regulations on food safety.

Seafood exported through Dong Xing border gate has to bear strict examination for food safety. More than 40 tonnes of goods have been rejected because the products did not meet China’s requirements.

“In general, it took just a few days to export goods across the border gate. But now, vehicles have to wait seven days to go through,” Tam said, adding that this has made goods owners incur heavy losses and many dare not sell goods across the border gate at present.

Chinese businessmen have been taking advantage of the deadlock at the border gate to force prices down. In many cases, the prices of dragon fruit drop by 50 percent after container vehicles are at the border gate for five days.

Meanwhile, according to Pham Van Chuong, Head of the General Affair Division of the Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Agency, many consignments of animal organs imported from other countries to Hai Phong port and then carried to Mong Cai border gate for re-export to China are stuck at the border gate as Chinese agencies have strengthened food hygiene verification.

Vietnamese rubber exporters have also received bad news. Truong Thi Thuy Hoa, Secretary General of the Vietnam Rubber Association, said that China has asked companies that import rubber from Vietnam to pay through banks. The request has not been welcomed by Vietnamese enterprises, which are used to payments in cash at the time of delivery. The enterprises fear that they will have to pay high transfer fees. China is a big rubber import market for Vietnam, consuming 70 percent of its total rubber latex output every year.

Businesses nothing to do except wait

As of July 1, under new regulations, Vietnamese fruit exports (watermelon, longan, litchis, bananas and dragon fruits) have to be accompanied by documents verifying their origins before they are allowed into China.

Experts have said that Vietnamese fruit exports may face even more difficulties after July 1. A lot of dragon fruit exporters may have to halt exporting products to China.

However, to date, concerned agencies have not come up with any solution for the problem.

Regarding rubber exports, Thuy Hoa has suggested that the Ministry of Industry and Trade ask the Chinese side to give detailed information about the fees of making payment through banks. The fees are different in different localities in China.

Rubber exports going through Mong Cai border gate have been decreasing sharply with only 200 tonnes going through the border gate every day, though the demand for rubber from China is increasing.