China inaugurated a new checkpoint at the port of Guan Lei in Yunnan province on Aug 5, expediting the exportation of Thai fruit via the Mekong River.
Caretaker Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the General Administration of Customs in China (GACC) set up a new fruit clearance checkpoint at Guan Lei port in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna.
The new checkpoint allows Thai exporters to ship fruit via Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai directly to Kunming.
Using river transport, the new route provides a faster option than using road transport, he said.
Mr Phumtham said the new checkpoint was opened in response to a trade delegation he led to Yunnan province on April 29 this year, when he met provincial governor Wang Yubo and government representatives from the area with the aim of increasing trade between the two nations, particularly through facilitation of the export of Thai fruit to China.
Mr Phumtham said he was notified by the director of the Thai Trade Centre in Kunming that Guan Lei port was officially opened as a new fruit clearance checkpoint on Aug 5.
The port is the 11th designated checkpoint for fruit imports into Yunnan province, providing a new waterway for fruit shipments from Southeast Asia and South Asia to enter China.
At the opening ceremony, the first batch of durian and other fruits imported by Xishuangbanna Jinggu Agricultural Development Company successfully cleared customs at Guan Lei.
Travelling upriver from Chiang Saen port on Aug 3, this batch reached Guan Lei in just 1.5 days.
The new route is intended to significantly reduce the overall time and logistics costs for fruit imports from Thailand and nearby Southeast Asian countries, thus allowing the imported fruits to reach the Chinese market more quickly and at a lower cost.
According to China Daily, several companies recently submitted quarantine approval applications to customs authorities for nearly 20,000 metric tonnes of fruit, including durians, mangosteens, watermelons and bananas.
The relevant departments predict the volume of fruit imported via Guan Lei port will reach 150,000 metric tonnes by 2025, rising to 300,000 metric tonnes by 2030.
"Located at the southwest frontier of China, Yunnan is China's closest province to Thailand. Its geographical location makes it a logistics hub for the distribution of Thai fruit and commodities to other parts of mainland China," said Mr Phumtham.
"Most of the Thai fruit imported into Yunnan was distributed through the Mohan checkpoint. This new route upriver serves as a quicker alternative to road transport."
