Thailand mangosteen, durian, longan re-exported to China through Vietnam

According to the Vietnam Customs, three above fruits are main goods exported to China and originated from Thailand.

TFruits imported from Thailand are less consumed in the domestic market and mainly re-exported to China. Photo: Thai Binh

On September 7th, 2017, the Customs IT and Statistics Department (General Department of Customs) said that at the end of August 2017, the total export turnover of fruits from Vietnam to China reached US$ 817.9 million. Of which, a turnover of US$ 595.3 million was from fruits originated from Thailand, accounting for 72.6%.

According to the Customs IT and Statistics Department, these fruits are imported according to the form of business import, then re-exported to China. "Re-export, in this case, is that goods originated from Thailand are imported to Vietnam (in the form of business) and are already included in the Customs statistics and then re-exported to China ( it is actually a business export). This is different from the common business activity of temporary imports for re-exports at Hai Phong port to export to China, “a staff of the Customs IT and Statistics Department explained.

Three major fruits imported to Vietnam and then re-exported to China are mangosteen, durian, and longan. Of an export turnover of US$ 214.6 million of mangosteen from Vietnam to China in the past eight months, the proportion of mangosteen originated from Thailand accounted for 98.6% (US$ 211.7 million).

The above proportion of durian was 85.7% (of an export turnover of US$ 233.7 million); fresh longan was 90% (of an export turnover of US$ 126.7 million) and dried longan was 91.7% (of an export turnover of US$ 64.9 million).

In addition to the above three goods, other fruits exported to China in the first eight months of the year were valued at US$ 177.9 million, of which Thailand fruits only accounted for US$ 7.9 million, equivalent to 4.4%.

Actually, fruit originated from Vietnam exported to China for many years mainly are watermelon, dragon fruit, lychee and custard-apple through Tan Thanh border gate area, Lang Son province.

At a regular press conference held by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on September 6, 2017, Director of Department of Plant Protection (MARD) Mr. Hoang Trung also said that this year, the import volume of fruits and vegetables from Thailand increased more than same period last year. Actually, imported goods are less consumed in the domestic market but mainly exported to China.

Some agricultural experts analyzed that China used to be Thailand's major fruit importer, but to increase the reputation of its fruits, Thailand has gradually focused on quality, narrowed the mass production and limited the exports to China. When China market lacks the goods, many Vietnamese enterprises and traders take the opportunity to increase the import of Thai fruits for re-export to China.