Lang Son Customs: Facilitate clearance of agricultural products

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Chi Ma Customs officer instructed enterprises and goods owners to arrange vehicles to wait for clearance. Photo: Cong Thanh.

Customs clearance for 45,792 vehicles

In the first quarter, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic made the situation of import and export of goods through the border gates in Lang Son province gloomy. Lang Son customs and Lang Son province have actively exchanged and talked with the Chinese side to find a solution for quick clearance of goods. Accordingly, up to now, five of twelve border gates in Lang Son provincehave implemented customs clearance of imports and exports.

From February 5 to the end of April 13, the border-gate customs units of the Lang Son Customs Department have cleared 45,792 import-export vehicles, equivalent to nearly 110,000 tons of goods, with a total turnover of US$304 million. Main exported items were agricultural products, accounting for 80% (dragon fruits, jackfruit, watermelons, bananas, mangoes and longan). Imported goods were electronic components, machinery, equipment, and production materials.

However, since the beginning of April, the Chinese side has introduced many new regulations to strengthen the management of diseases from abroad, which has strongly affected the clearance of goods at the border gates.

Lang Son Customs Department assessed thatthe situation of import and export of goods in the province faced many difficulties, making the import-export turnover of goods through the province reach US$523.2 million, down 43.4% over the same period last year, of which export turnover of agricultural products was estimated at US$250 million, down nearly 35% over the same period last year. Some key export items such as dragon fruit, watermelon, mango, longan and rambutan only reached about 350,000 tons, down over 200,000 tons over the same period last year

At Huu Nghi International Border Gate, by the end of April 13, Huu Nghi Border Gate Customs Department has cleared 9,213 vehicles of agricultural productsexported from Vietnam to China with a turnover of US$68.5 million and there are still 476 vehicles congested at the border gate.

Also at Chi Ma border gate, Chi Ma border gate Customs Branch has carried out procedures for 1,651 vehicles of export goods including pepper, peanuts and agricultural products with a turnover of US$48 million, currently there are still 476 vehicles waiting.

Especially, at the Tan Thanh secondary border gate, which is the main border gate for Vietnam’s export agricultural products and fruits to the Chinese market, before the pandemic, the average export was 300 vehicle per day.From the restoration (February 20) up to now, the clearance capacity has been very limited, only 130 to 150 vehicles per day on average are exported, of which transshipment of goods was only 50%.The remaining vehicles are congested at ​​Po Chai (China). From the time of re-clearance until now, Tan Thanh Customs has completed export procedures for 5,865 vehicles of watermelon, dragon fruit, mango and banana with a turnover of US$31.5 million. Meanwhile, the volume of vehicles and exported goods from inland provinces to the border gates is increasing, leading to congestion at the border gates. Accordingly, by the end of April 13 at Tan Thanh border gate, there are nearly 1,000 vehicles left.

Continue to find solutions

Facing the situation of slow customs clearance, large backlog at border gates, as well as difficulties in limited time for clearance, Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh, Deputy Manager of Chi Ma Border Gate Customs Branch said that the unit coordinated and exchanged information with the border gate authorities and instructed vehicles to go in order, avoiding congestion at the border gate; and announced and publicized to the business community policies of the Chinese side to temporarily limitthe transport of goods to the border to avoid the costs of warehousing, time and economic losses. In addition, to release and avoid congestion of goods at the border gate, the unit has arranged civil servants to directly work at yards to guide enterprises and goods owners to arrange goods and carry out related procedures.

The representative of Huu Nghi Border Gate Customs Branch said that to solve the problem of congestion of vehicles at the border gate, the unit often cooperates with the authorities at the border gate such as: border guard, border gate management center and management units of yards together to exchange information with the Chinese authorities to find solutions to create the most favorable conditions for businesses and vehicles at border gate. Along with that, the unit regularly and proactively works overtime and increases working hours to provide maximum support in handling procedures for businesses andgoods owners to quickly clear goods and reduce congestion at the border gate.

According to Mr. Vy Cong Tuong, Deputy Director of Lang Son Customs Department, to speed up customs clearance and minimize damage to enterprises during the Covid-19 pandemic, the unit regularly connects and talks with Chinese authorities to improve the capacity of customs clearance.

Lang Son Customs: accompanying businesses to surmount difficulties

Also according to Mr.Tuong, the first goal is to support enterprises to connect with partners, to facilitate the signing of trade contracts for import and export of agricultural products; and guide enterprises to declare customs procedures and quickly solve problems, so that enterprises do not pay additional costs incurred during the customs process, especially in the difficult context of the pandemic.