en days, lorries carrying watermelon have been making a 30-kilometer-long queue on northern Vietnamese border, and the line is getting longer as Vietnamese merchants rush to reach China to sell their fruit before they become too ripe.Vietnamese watermelon merchants have incurred huge losses as the price of watermelon has plunged and some fruit have become rotten due to a long waiting period for their transport to Chinese markets.
Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, answering questions from National Assembly deputies, admitted Tuesday that indeed huge volumes of Vietnamese watermelon have remained idle in the northern Tan Thanh border crossing in Lang Son province. He said this has always been the situation each year.
In an interview with the state-run Vietnam News Agency, Hoang attributed the annual delay to the fact that the fruit is being transported to China only through the Tan Thanh border gate, which has a limited customs clearance capacity. "At Tan Thanh border gate, the terrain is narrow and the warehouse is small despite investments made by the state and local governments to improve the facilities," Hoang said. The minister said that Tan Thanh border customs can only process some 300 vehicles passing through the gate per day. However, during the peak of watermelon harvesting, up to 1,800 trucks carrying watermelon pass through the gate.
Vietnam has asked China to open more border gates so that the flow of watermelon exports could be maximized, especially during the peak season. Hoang also proposed that local authorities closely control watermelon cropping in their areas.
As the queue in Tan Thanh remained long, some Vietnamese traders have decided to divert their watermelon to other northern provinces, including Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, Hai Duong, Hung Yen and capital Hanoi for domestic consumers.
