Thai Fruit Exports Fall By Over 50% As China Tightens Fruit Imports

According to the Thai headline news agency, Nakhon Phanom customs officials recently revealed that Nakhon Phanom's fruit exports have fallen by more than 50% due to the impact of the New Crown epidemic and the tightening of fruit imports to Thailand at the Chinese border in early 2022.

According to customs staff Suntharya, previously, although Thai border trade in Nakhon Phanom was affected by the epidemic, it was to a lesser extent. Statistics show that from September 2020 to October 2021, Nakhon Phanom's border trade imports will amount to around 19 billion baht and exports to around 99 billion baht. The most important fruits are mainly durian, mangosteen and longan, which leave from Nakhon Phanom port, pass through Laos and Vietnam, and finally arrive at Dongxing port in China. However, since the beginning of 2022, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse, with Nakhon Phanom's border export trade being hit hard.

Reports say that the slow passage through the border area has caused a large number of transport vehicles to be stranded as China has stepped up its epidemic prevention and control. It is reported that trucks transporting fruit previously only had to stay for 3-5 days at the Pingxiang Friendship Pass and Qinzhou Dongxing Port checkpoints, but since the closure of the Dongxing Port, the only remaining Friendship Pass only allows 20 vehicles to enter each day, and there are still 2,000 trucks outside the checkpoints waiting to be inspected for entry, resulting in trucks having to wait at least 10-15 days. 

Thai media said that due to the limited shelf life of fresh fruit, the congestion at the border crossing has resulted in longer transport times and a large amount of fruit rotting and spoiling. As a result of this, the export value of fruit from Nakhon Phanom province has dropped by more than 50%.