Fruits sold at a supermarket in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: VNA)The latesttransportation of Thai fruits through the China-Laos Railway, after the firstshipment of Thai rice to China in February, is fueling hope that the rail routewould facilitate and boost exports of Thai agricultural products to their majormarket, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.
The batch ofThai fruits, 40 tonnes of durians and 20 tonnes of coconuts, was loaded on thetrain at the Vientiane South Station of the China-Laos Railway and reached theNateuy Station in Luang Namtha Province on April 1, which borders southwestChina's Yunnan Province. The fruits were then transited to trucks at the NateuyStation and entered China by road.
The shipmentcame after Thailand used the rail route to transport 500 tonnes of rice tosouthwest China's Chongqing Municipality in February.
YanJianchao, the Thai chief representative of the Shanghai Minsheng Shipping Co.,the logistics company responsible for the shipment of the Thai rice, said theChina-Laos Railway has opened a new gate for expanding trade cooperationbetween China's southwestern regions and Southeast Asian countries.
This railroute will become the new channel to transport goods from Thailand to China,especially agricultural products, which saves more time on transportation thatcan retain the freshness of agricultural products such as fruit and vegetable,Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiationsunder Thailand's Ministry of Commerce, told Xinhua.
As it isanticipated to reduce transportation time with reasonable cost, the China-LaosRailway would be considered as a new option for Thai exporters, Auramon said,adding that it would advantage not only agricultural products but also allother exporting products such as synthetic rubber, cassava and cassava starch.
Thailand isready to ship more goods through this route after the construction of sanitaryand phytosanitary facility at the Mohan railway checkpoint, which is scheduledto be ready by mid-year, Auramon said.
Given themajority of China-ASEAN trade has relied mainly on maritime routes rather thanoverland transportation, it is foreseeable that with the China-Laos Railway,there could be a significant shift from maritime trade to road and rail in thecoming years, she said.
Auramonnoted that the railway also helps open the possibilities of extending export routesto other countries such as in Europe with an approximately 15-18 days delivery,which is faster and lower cost compared to marine transportation.
China hasremained Thailand's largest trading partner for nine consecutive years, and hasbeen a major export market for Thailand's agricultural products. Bilateraltrade volume surged 33 percent year on year to 131.18 billion USD in 2021,according to data from China's General Administration of Customs./.
VNA
