Photo: vietnamnet.vn.

Strictly Implement The Government Directive No.26

According to Nhan Dan, the Government Office conveyed the opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh about the settlement of congestion of agricultural products at border gates in Lang Son province on December 18.

The government official asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, and centrally-run provinces and cities to strictly implement the Government Directive No.26, dated September 21, 2021, on promoting the production, circulation, consumption, and export of agricultural products amid the pandemic.

In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade was requested to work with Chinese localities to implement solutions to increase customs clearance time at border gates and facilitate the export of Vietnamese agricultural products to China.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was asked to direct the agricultural production in line with market demand and guide household farmers to follow the standards and regulations of importing countries.

In addition, People's Committees of provinces and cities must provide timely information on export markets, particularly the Chinese market and customs clearance activities at border gates to local farmers and production establishments.

Drivers waited for their turn. Photo: vietnamnet.

Why are so many agricultural products stuck?

Vietnam's agriculture exports are taking a hit as China maintains a very strict inspections regime at northern border gates as a Covid-19 prevention measure.

As of December 10, as many as 4,000 container trucks were stranded at the border gates in Lang Son Province, said Le Thanh Hoa, deputy head of the Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries products under the agriculture ministry.

At the three border gates of Huu Nghi, Tan Thanh and Chi Ma, the current customs clearance speed has fallen by more than half to about 220 container trucks per day, Hoa said at a conference on agriculture trade held Saturday in Hanoi.

According to VnExpress, for each truck carrying dragon fruit, jackfruit, and other fruits stuck at the Tan Thanh gate, it was taking 10-14 days on average to get customs clearance.

At Bac Luan Border Gate 2, container trucks lined up for more than 3km long. Photo: vietnamnet

At the Mong Cai border gate in Quang Ninh Province, just one truck gets cleared every week, Hoa said.

The management board of the Mong Cai gate said that as many 800 trucks of frozen seafood and 300 trucks of fruits were stranded there.

Hoa recommended that businesses carefully check agricultural products exported via border gates because China has been strengthening its Covid-19 disease control regime, resulting in careful, stringent inspections of products entering its territory.

Besides, as Vietnamnet reported, the reason for the phenomenon is that the Chinese customs force on epidemic prevention is unable to meet the requirements of goods circulation.

"Currently, the parking lots in Mong Cai City are full. There are only 50 trucks passing customs clearance per day," a representative of Mong Cai Customs Office said.

According to this official, many container trucks moved to Lang Son, but congestion in Lang Son was worse so they returned to Mong Cai.

Every day, goods owners have to spend over VND1 million for living expenses for each driver and preserving goods. Photo: vietnamnet.

Long-term solutions are necessary

The relevant authorities at the border gate have actively developed solutions to manage and regulate the means of import and export goods to avoid congestion. However, these are only short-term solutions, to solve the problem of cargo congestion that has taken place for many years in Lang Son province, long-term solutions and orientations are necessary.

The relevant authorities at the border gate have actively developed solutions to manage and regulate the means of import and export goods to avoid congestion. However, these are only short-term solutions, to solve the problem of cargo congestion that has taken place for many years in Lang Son province, long-term solutions and orientations are necessary.

According to Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Lang Son province Luong Trong Quynh, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese side has issued many new regulations, so provinces, cities, enterprises, industry associations and farmers need to quickly understand regulations to bring goods to the border, ensuring food safety, traceability and quarantine.

Container trucks carrying agriculture exports stranded at a China border gate in Lang Son Province, December 11, 2021. Photo by Lang Son Customs Department

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must guide local governments with growing areas to support farmers and businesses to classify, packing, and preserve and label in accordance with the requirements at production places to ensure food safety and traceability.

At the same time, as VCCI reported, businesses need to make an electronic customs declaration for all export shipments to speed up customs clearance, helping reduce risks for businesses and avoid congestion at the border gate, said Luong Trong Quynh.

In addition, to completely solve the congestion, the issues related to infrastructure and yards, especially traffic infrastructure to further facilitate trade in goods must be solved.

Because we have not made the most of the potential of the railway, so if the railway is used for transporting agricultural products, it will be convenient, reduce costs and time for both the management agency and enterprises.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said, after negotiating and signing the Protocol for nine agricultural products, the next negotiation procedures for other eight agricultural products of Vietnam has been fully prepared in terms of planting area codes, traceability records and sent to the General Department of China Customs.

According to VnEpress, Hu Suo Jin, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, said the pandemic in Vietnam was developing quite complicatedly and exporters need to disinfect the means of transport and drivers also need to increase adoption of preventive measures to avoid leaving the virus on goods.

In addition, if possible, Vietnamese goods should be labeled with a negative test certificate on their packaging, he said.

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