China inaugurated a new checkpoint at the Guan Lei port in Yunnan province on August 5, facilitating the export of Thai fruit along the Mekong River.
Caretaker Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai announced that the General Administration of Customs in China (GACC) established a new fruit clearance checkpoint at Guan Lei port in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.
This new checkpoint enables Thai exporters to transport fruit directly from Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai to Kunming, providing a faster shipping option through river transport compared to road transport.
Mr. Phumtham stated that the checkpoint’s opening followed his trade delegation visit to Yunnan on April 29, where he met with provincial governor Wang Yubo and other government representatives to enhance trade between the two countries, particularly focusing on the export of Thai fruit to China.
He received confirmation from the director of the Thai Trade Centre in Kunming that the port officially began operations as a fruit clearance checkpoint on August 5. The port is the 11th designated checkpoint for fruit imports into Yunnan, offering a new waterway for fruit shipments from Southeast Asia and South Asia into China.
During the inauguration ceremony, the first batch of durians and other fruits imported by the Xishuangbanna Jinggu Agricultural Development Company successfully cleared customs at Guan Lei. This shipment traveled upriver from Chiang Saen port on August 3, reaching Guan Lei in just 1.5 days.
The new route aims to significantly cut down overall transit time and logistics costs for fruit imports from Thailand and neighboring Southeast Asian countries, enabling imported fruits to reach the Chinese market more swiftly and affordably.
According to China Daily, several companies have recently applied for quarantine approval from customs authorities for nearly 20,000 metric tonnes of fruit, including durians, mangosteens, watermelons, and bananas.
Relevant departments project that the volume of fruit imported through Guan Lei port will reach 150,000 metric tonnes by 2025 and increase to 300,000 metric tonnes by 2030.
“Yunnan, located at China’s southwest frontier, is the closest province to Thailand, making it a logistics hub for distributing Thai fruit and products to other regions of mainland China,” stated Mr. Phumtham.
“Previously, most Thai fruit imported into Yunnan was distributed via the Mohan checkpoint. This new upriver route serves as a faster alternative to road transport.”
