KANCHANABURI: Trade between Thailand and Myanmar resumed in Kanchanaburi province on Wednesday after Thai authorities temporarily eased Covid-19 restrictions.
Loaded trucks converged on the Ban Phu Nam Ron checkpoint in Muang district and the Three Pagodas crossing in Sangkhla Buri district, as the province allowed trading for two days.
Consumer goods and construction materials were transferred from Thai vehicles to lorries from Myanmar at the border in the two districts.
Terdsak Kittiwarakul, the secretary-general of the Thai-Myanmar border trade association at Ban Phu Nam Ron, said Myanmar needed consumer goods from Thailand, and imported seafood and red onions through the province.
He expected about 1 million baht would be generated from the resumption of trade at Ban Phu Nam Ron on Wednesday, and a similar amount on Thursday.
Sathaporn Boonsomjit, village chief of Chedi Sam Ong (Three Pagodas), said security at the border had been tightened after the coup in Myanmar on Monday.
Kanchanaburi unilaterally shut the border with Myanmar after the coronavirus outbreak there. The border will be closed again after Thursday trading. Cagoes of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks are banned.
The Myanmar military only briefly shut the border after ousting the elected civilian government on Monday.
Border trade in Mae Sot district of Tak and Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai resumed on Monday.
The Mae Sot checkpoint is a key border trading post, with goods heading for Yangon mainly transported through this crossing.