Lao farmers still do not send goods through the Lao-China railway
RFA Lao
25 October 2024
At present, Lao PDR is sending 6 agricultural products to China through the Lao-China railway line such as rubber, rice, millets, maize, dried cassava and soybeans, but most of them belong to Chinese investors. For Lao farmers, they cannot export their products because of the lack of quality and high production costs, so Lao farmers have to use trucks to send goods to China as before. As a rubber farmer in Vieng Phukha District, Luang Nam Tha Province, Mr. Cha said to RFA Lao as follows:
"It's difficult to get document clearance for exporting our project. Most of them export to China. They buy rubber and compress it into dry sheets. They put processed para rubber into 22-wheeled trucks to transport. In Laos, they use trucks with trials."
In Luang Namtha province, Na Toey station is a place to send agricultural products from Laos to China, but most of agricultural products belong to Chinese investors. Lao farmers still export their agricultural products by truck. It takes several days before they reach their destination. As the agriculture and forestry official from Luang Nam Tha province, Mr. Cha said:
"Most of them use trucks, but the beans and peanut need to put into the airconditioned container boxes because they have to be kept refrigerated. Chinese government does not allowthe cold storage in their cargo trains, but it is convenient. They have to export those beans and peanuts by trucks. Yes, the cost of the container is more expensive than just cargo transport by trucks."
In addition to Luang Namtha province, there is also Luang Prabang province that sends agricultural products through the Lao-China railway, such as maize, millet, rubber and cassava flour, but most of them are from Chinese investors. Another problem is that Lao farmers cannot export agricultural products through the Lao-Chinese railway by themselves. Cargo trainsports by trains have to be done through Chinese agents with contracts to Lao - China railway and Chinese agents have depressed the purchasing prices of agricultural product from Lao farmers which Lao farmers cannot sell at such low prices.
"No (shipping by myself). It must depend on the company signing a contract with China to be able to deliver since Lao - China railway will allocate the quota for export the agricultural products ONLY to the companies which sign the contracts. Those products without quota will only sell for domestic markets within the borders.
Regarding this matter, an employee exporting goods through the Lao-China railway route said that the export of goods via the Lao-China railway route has many service fees, such as the contract fee, the cost of clearing the container for the goods, the security deposit and the shipping fee, depending on the origin of the export. In addition, the export to China must be sent within the specified quota. If the quota is not reached, the contract will be fined or the contract may be canceled. For most of the farmers whose production is uncertain, they will not invest in sending goods through the Lao-China railway, as you said:
"This shipping cost depends on which station we deliver to because it's a box and how many kilometers (transportation cost) - case to point is the para rubber sent through Luang Phrabang station which has a price tag at about 2000 RMB Yuan or more. The uncertainty of para rubber production has compelled farmes to sell their products through agents to allow continuing stream of exports by rails to Mainland China.
The head of the Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said that the Lao PDR will send at least 5 agricultural products to China in 2024, including watermelons and legumes. The Lao and Chinese officials have negotiated on plant health and export to China in 30 items in the future.
Lao PDR urges China to buy more agricultural products from Laos. Last year, Mr. Sonxay Sipandon, the Prime Minister, went to meet Mr. Man Thien Li, President of the Guangxi Autonomous Region of China Trade in agricultural products in his provinces.
Lao academic Mr. Cha said that the export of agricultural products from Laos to China is there but not much because of the quality problem and there is also the current inflation problem which affects the farmers in many localities in planting crops or raising animals.
He said that for the agricultural production in Laos, many localities are not yet self-sufficient and the provinces bordering Thailand such as Vientiane, Xayaburi, Savannakhet and others still tend to import agricultural products from Thailand to be consumed in Laos, so the export of agricultural products to China is small.
Laos-China discussed the issue of sending beans grown in Laos to China
2024.10.24
Laos-China discussed the issue of sending beans grown in Laos to China
The durian plantation that has just started to be planted in Pak Kading District, Borikhamxay Province.
Beans are one of the agricultural products that are in great demand in the Chinese market, so Chinese investors came to concession land for the villagers to grow beans to export to China, while the people of Laos started to grow beans because they hope to send beans to sell to China, which the Lao government is promoting.
However, when compared to each other, it is still seen that the cultivation of lentils by Lao farmers is still not much due to the Chinese investors and there are not many techniques and skills in planting, and lentils are not up to the standard set by China, so they cannot send their crops to sell to China.
"Bajiang district grows a lot as if the area has never been planted. Most of the people are Chinese, but the Lao people don't see that the Chinese people grow a lot. They have their own market. They have a place to export. The Lao people can't send it. Most of them are of this quality. The care and care of the beans have not been observed. They can't be exported. We plant them without knowing how to fertilize them."
In Vientiane, a Lao farmer said on the same day that the Lao government is currently discussing with the Chinese government so that the soybeans grown in Laos can be exported to the Chinese market, while some Lao farmers are still worried that the soybeans grown by Lao people without receiving promotion funds may not be exported to foreign countries.
"I'm worried about the flowers. I'm not going to send them to China. It's going to be cheaper for the company. Most of the people will plant a lot, but not as much as the company. The company will grant 200-300 hectares, but now we sell most of it domestically. Before, it's still satisfying domestically, but in the future, we're going to export a lot."
And one of the farmers planting lentils in Pak Chan District, Champasak Province, said to Radio Asia Free on October 24 that the Lao government is encouraging Lao farmers to plant the Mosan King and Nam Du varieties of lentils, which are the varieties of lentils that are in great demand in the Chinese market, and the Chinese company itself grows these varieties of lentils. Once the product is produced, it will be sold all over China. He said that even if it will not be sold to China, he is not worried because there are other markets that support it because the beans can be transformed into many products.
"That person is not worried about growing lentils, but only about growing them so that they can grow, grow them to be productive, grow black thorn, grow Moon King as the main one, because the government promotes it, the Chinese people want to send it to China alone, China will not accept it, the Chinese will grow it themselves and export it."
Until now, lentils grown in Laos cannot be sent to China for sale because Laos and China do not have a memorandum of understanding or MOU on sending lentils grown in Laos to China and China has not yet received lentils from Laos. Lao farmers must learn the technical and technical aspects of growing lentils in order to export them to meet the standards first.
However, a group of farmers who grow chickpeas in Laos expect that if the two countries, Laos and China, reach an agreement, they will be able to send chickpeas from Laos to China within the next year, as an official of the Lao Agricultural Business Association in the chickpea sector told Radio Asia Free on October 24 that currently Laos cannot send chickpeas to China.
"In Laos, there is no farm that can be sent to China because 1. We have not signed the MOU. 2. China has not yet approved Lao beans to be exported to China. Next year, we cannot send them to China. This year, we cannot send them to China. We need to run the documents first. 2. We need to learn about making beans to export before we can export them."
The Lao government has started promoting and mobilizing Lao farmers to plant more soybeans. According to the statistics of the Department of Agriculture and Forestry in each province, currently all over Laos there are both Lao and foreign entrepreneurs planting beans in an area of at least 3,000 hectares, including Laos, Vietnam and China. Speaking specifically, the Chinese investor's company, Jingua, has already planted more than 50,000 soybeans.
If there is more promotion of soybean cultivation, Laos may be one of the 4 out of 10 ASEAN member countries and may send soybeans to sell more abroad in the future.
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