Lang Son: Develop solutions to facilitate exporting fresh fruits

At this time, some provinces such as Son La, Bac Giang and Hai Duong are in the harvest of a number of speciality fresh fruits such as mangoes and lychees. To increase economic value, in recent years, these provinces have focused on promoting exports of these fresh fruits to the Chinese market. According to statistics from the People's Committee of Lang Son province, more than 80% of Son La mango, Luc Ngan lychees (Bac Giang) and Thanh Ha lychees (Hai Duong) are exported through the border gates of Lang Son.

For example, from the beginning of May, when Son La mango entered the harvest, departments and sectors of Son La sought businesses to implement export contracts to the Chinese market. Data of the Lang Son Customs Department showed that in only 20 days (from May 1 to May 20), enterprises implemented export procedures for 985 tonnes of mangoes (worth $360,000) via border gates of Lang Son.

Tan Thanh Customs official collaborated with other forces to inspect exported agricultural products. Photo: H.Nụ

Besides Son La mango, fresh lychee products of Bac Giang province and Hai Duong also started exporting to China earlier than previous years. According to Lang Son Customs, the output of fresh lychee exported through the Tan Thanh and Coc Nam border gates from May 18 to May 21 exceeded 150 tonnes. Also according to statistics from Lang Son Customs Department, in 2019, total output of fresh lychee exported to China via Tan Thanh and Coc Nam border gates hit 83,000 tonnes.

To prepare options to facilitate maximally for exported fresh fruit, from the beginning of May, the People's Committee of Lang Son province directed departments and forces at the border gate to continue implementing supportive measures, create the best conditions for speciality fresh fruits of neighboring provinces to export. According to the People's Committee of Lang Son province, now was the season of mango and lychee, the next months would be longan, banana and passion fruit.

Vy Cong Tuong, Deputy Director of Lang Son Customs Department, said that to create the most favourable conditions for vehicles and goods as fresh agricultural products for export, Lang Son Customs has directed the border-gate customs branch to tell customs officials to directly receive and quickly process declarations and clearance procedure for vehicles transporting exported mangoes and fresh lychees. Along with prioritising the exporting channel, Lang Son Customs always ensures clearance time for each vehicle carrying mango and fresh lychee for export which took only about 3 minutes.

As for the Border Defence force, a representative of Tan Thanh Border Post said the unit currently had arranged staff to perform duty for trucks transporting fresh mangoes from Son La and lychee of Bac Giang and Hai Duong. This has helped prevent congestion.

Nguyen Cong Truong - Vice Chairman of Lang Son People's Committee said that the consistent policy of the leadership of Lang Son province was to facilitate and open conditions to attract businesses to implement import and export goods through border gates of Lang Son province. In particular, at the main crop of harvest of some speciality fruits of some localities, provincial authorities and border-gate forces always prioritise exporting fresh fruits such as mangoes, watermelons, lychee and longan to implement procedures as quickly as possible.

The province has also directed the Industry and Trade Department of Lang Son to update new regulations on packaging, labels and traceability, as well as purchasing situation of Chinese enterprises, timely informing the Industry and Trade Department in the province for recommending to businesses to regulate output of fresh fruit for export appropriately.