Durian holds the "champion" in exports through Lao Cai border gate

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Turnover of agricultural products exported through Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch in the first 9 months of the year. Chart: T.Binh.

"Billion dollar" fruit

According to the latest information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, by the end of August 2023, fruit and vegetable exports brought in 3.45 billion USD, an increase of 57.5% over the same period last year.

Notably, durian products alone bring in export revenue of over 1.2 billion USD, accounting for 30% of the total turnover of the fruit and vegetable group, nearly 3 times higher than the turnover of the whole year 2022 (420 million USD).

One of the important export areas of durian products is international border gate Road No. II Kim Thanh, Lao Cai.

Deputy Director of Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch (Lao Cai Customs Department) Pham Van Phuc said: durian will be officially exported through Kim Thanh international border gate Road No. II from October 2022. However, at that time the number of exported cars was still small.

From May 2023 onwards, the amount of durian exported has increased, with a peak of about 20 trucks per day. Notably, this is a high-value item, each container costs from 1.5 billion VND to 2 billion VND, depending on the size of the container.

Therefore, although it has only been a product that has been cleared here for 1 year, durian has risen to become the group of exported goods with the largest turnover at Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch.

By the end of September, durian products alone reached a turnover of 182 million USD, accounting for 42.4% of the export turnover of the whole Department.

In particular, durian also surpasses traditional export agricultural product groups at the Department such as dragon fruit, lychee, cassava, watermelon, etc.

For example, compared to the second-ranked product, dragon fruit, the turnover of durian products is up to 2.5 times higher (dragon fruit reached more than 72 million USD); or nearly 8 times higher than the 3rd ranked product, lychee (lychee reached nearly 21 million USD).

Fast customs clearance

Deputy Director of Lao Cai Customs Department Duong Xuan Sinh said that in order to facilitate import and export activities through the area in general, especially agricultural goods, Lao Cai Customs Department and Ha Khau Customs (China) set aside a separate channel to prioritize procedures at Road II Kim Thanh international border gate.

Along with that, Lao Cai Customs Department regularly propagates and disseminates legal policies, helping businesses master the regulations to declare customs procedures quickly and properly.

Deputy Director of Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch Pham Van Phuc added: thanks to the favorable solutions of the unit and functional forces at the border gate, customs clearance time for durian and other products has improved. Exported agricultural products only last about 5 minutes per shipment.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuoi (import and export procedure employee of Nam Phong Import-Export Company Limited, Lao Cai) said: The company specializes in carrying out export procedures for agricultural products. Customs declaration is done on the VNACCS/VCIS system. If the Green channel is cleared immediately, in the case of a Yellow channel declaration, customs officers will also enthusiastically guide you to complete the dossier according to regulations, meeting the requirements to ensure the quality of fresh fruit products.

Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuong (Huy Hieu Import-Export and Trading Company Limited, Lao Cai) shared that the company provides export services for durian products. Although this is a new item, Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch provided dedicated guidance so the procedure went smoothly.

By the end of September, at Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Branch, there were 581 businesses carrying out import and export procedures, with a number of 44,220 declarations.

Total import-export turnover reached nearly 747 million USD, of which exports reached 429.5 million USD; Imports reached 317.48 million USD.

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Currently, every day, from 250 to 280 containers are cleared through international border gate Road No. II Kim Thanh, Lao Cai. In particular, average 60 to 80 trucks/day are exported, mainly agricultural products such as durian, dragon fruit, watermelon, banana, cassava, etc.