VietNamNet Bridge - Analysts have warned that even if goods transit centers are built in border areas, Vietnam’s farm produce will still be at a disadvantage if Chinese businesses make problems for Vietnamese merchants.
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A goods transit center will be built in the border province of Lang Son, where Vietnamese farmers can keep their farm produce in good condition before the deliveries are made to Chinese businessmen.

The idea was raised by the Lang Son provincial authorities after witnessing hundreds of trucks queueing up at the border gates waiting for their turns to deliver farm produce to Chinese importers. Thousands of kilos of farm produce were thrown away after rotting under the scorching sun.

According to Dinh Trung Kien, chief secretariat of the Dong Dang Border Gate Economic Zone Board of Management, the transit center would be similar to a large parking lot for produce-carrying trucks to stay before they go to the border gates. 

Dr. Tran Ngoc Lan, a senior official of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said it is still unclear which farm produce preservation method would be applied there.

“Fruit exports to China are mostly fresh ones with no preliminary treatment. Therefore, they should not be put into cold storage,” Lan warned. “If fruits are kept in cold storage and then taken out, the defrosting process will spoil the fruits.”

In principle, Lan said, fresh fruits can be preserved at normal temperature when they are carried to Lang Son border gates. However, as it is too long to get customs clearance, about 5-10 days, the fruits will spoil. Therefore, it would be better to keep them under cool storage until customs clearance.

“Even if we have a goods transit center, fruit and farm produce will rot if we cannot apply a reasonable preservation method,” he said.

Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh from the Hanoi University of Technology, while highly appreciating the idea of setting up a transit center which can help protect farm produce from scorching sun and rain, emphasized that improving customs clearance procedures should be seen as the best solution to existing problems.

He also warned that it would be costly to use storage facilities, while farm produce would still rot if they cannot be protected in a right way.

“It would be better to seek a customs clearance mechanism which can benefit both Vietnamese and Chinese merchants,” he suggested.

“For example, the two sides should consider an agreement about food hygiene, under which the quarantine conducted by Vietnamese agencies will be recognized by China and vice versa,” he added. 

Dat Viet