China-Laos Railway Facilitates Hunan Orange Export to Laos

On December 14, a truck loaded with 19.4 tons of navel oranges started off from Huaihua, after completing Huaihua Customs inspection. These oranges were produced in Huaihua’s Xupu, and will be exported to Laos via the Mohan Border Port in Yunnan Province.

This is the first export of Hunan’s fruit to Laos, also Huaihua’s first direct export of navel oranges, said Wu Yubai, commissioner of the Huaihua Customs. Upon the operation of the Huaihua International Land Port Customs Supervision Site, Hunan’s agricultural products, such as navel oranges, will be directly transported to ASEAN countries through the China-Laos Railway.

To facilitate navel orange export this time, the Huaihua Customs had guided the enterprises to register as exported fruit plantations via the “internet + customs‘’ service in advance, and completed their self-inspection and control systems to improve quality management level. The customs also focused on the market access to destination countries, and timely notified export enterprises of related policies. In order to solve the fruit’s problems of keeping fresh for a short period of time and high preservation requirements, the customs opened fast channels and provided customs clearance appointment service which is accessible 24/7. It also took the initiative to assist the enterprises to apply for the China - ASEAN Free Trade Certificate of Origin (FORM E), to enjoy tariff reduction and exemption in the destination countries.

Hunan abounds with citrus fruits, such as Bingtang sweet oranges, navel oranges, and tangerines. The Changsha Customs data shows that, between January and November, Hunan had exported 23,200 tons of citruses, making a year-on-year increase of 6.9%.

Translator: Pang Yuehui