Transporting goods to border gates. As of Wednesday, the border gates still had more than 1,000 trucks of goods waiting to be exported from Việt Nam to China. Photo laodong.vn

HÀ NỘI – Lạng Sơn Province has proposed to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to permit Vietnamese workers to load and unload exported and imported goods between Việt Nam and China at China's border areas.

By Wednesday, the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the border gates still had more than 1,000 trucks of goods waiting to be exported from Việt Nam to China, mainly agricultural products. Of which, Lạng Sơn is the province with the largest volume of goods at border gates.

The main reason is that the Chinese side is lacking labour during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, especially workers to load and unload goods in border areas, reported the Người lao động (Worker) newspaper.

This proposal is expected to remove export goods stuck at Lạng Sơn's border gates, according to an official of the People’s Committee of Lạng Sơn.

Accordingly, Lạng Sơn Province has suggested the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Health to allow Vietnamese workers across the border gates to unload goods while ensuring medical quarantine, said Nguyễn Công Trưởng, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Lạng Sơn Province.

According to the Import-Export Department, as of Wednesday, in Lạng Sơn Province, Tân Thanh Border Gate had the largest number of trucks waiting for export at 788 units, mainly agricultural products.

Every day, nearly 200 vehicles transporting agricultural products from provinces have come to this border gate for export. However, 130-150 trucks have completed customs clearance and export goods, but only 50-70 trucks of them have been loaded and unloaded each day, leading to goods stuck at the Tân Thanh border gate.

Meanwhile, there were 114 vehicles of export agricultural products and electronic components at the Hữu Nghị International Border Gate, 11 vehicles at Cốc Nam Border Gate and 72 vehicles at Chi Ma Border Gate waiting for customs clearance.

The border gate at the Đồng Đăng railway also had eight carriages, mainly carrying dragon fruit for export to China, waiting to complete customs procedures.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 epidemic, Lạng Sơn Province’s trade value in the first two months of this year fell by 47.8 per cent year on year to US$360 million. Of which, the export value dropped by 48.8 per cent to $210 million while the import value reduced by 46.4 per cent to $150 million, according to the Lạng Sơn Customs Department.

The provincial State budget revenue was VNĐ700 billion in the first two months, a year-on-year reduction of 18.5 per cent. Of which, the budget revenue from import and export activities reached VNĐ200 billion, down 53.2 per cent compared to the same period of last year. – VNS