In the first half of the year, the import and export value of China Laos railway was 17.17 billion yuan, up 33.8% year on year (figure)

The picture shows customs officers inspecting imported Thai fresh durians at the Mohan Railway Port

According to the statistics of Mengla Customs under Kunming Customs, in the first half of 2026, the import and export value of goods through the China Laos railway was 17.17 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 33.8%, and cross-border trade continued to activate. On the import side, imported tropical fruits such as fresh durian, mangosteen, and longan amounted to 4.22 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.8%. Southeast Asian tropical fresh fruits are accelerating their entry into the domestic market through cold chain trains; On the export side, the export value of "new three types" products such as new energy vehicles and photovoltaic products reached 2.14 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5 times. The export value of cross-border e-commerce B2B increased by 1.2 times year-on-year, becoming a new engine for export growth.

"Relying on the China Laos railway to stabilize the cold chain transport capacity, our transport loss of imported fresh fruits has been reduced by more than half, and the logistics cost has been significantly reduced." Jiang Wei, general manager of Yunnan Alsep Customs Declaration Agency Co., Ltd., said, "In the first half of this year, the company's freight volume increased by 32% year on year, and the maximum number of imported refrigerators per day exceeded 100. We have also begun to act as agents for new energy vehicle exports and other new businesses. This railway has given us more confidence to further explore the ASEAN market."

In order to continuously release the efficiency of the China Laos railway, Kunming Customs fully implemented eight actions to promote the high-quality development of Yunnan's foreign trade and 16 measures to promote cross-border trade facilitation, and insisted on strict supervision, excellent service and efficiency improvement. Promoting the implementation of the "National Union Waybill Advance Transmission" model and the "Advance Declaration of Departure Place" model for imported goods railways can enable the early declaration of customs declaration forms and other data information at Vientiane Station in Laos, with a declaration time of more than one day in advance. By combining the H986 large container inspection system, 5G intelligent individual soldiers, automatic guided transport vehicles and other intelligent devices, the efficiency of port logistics has been improved by over 40%. On the basis of strictly guarding national security, we are fully committed to ensuring the fast entry and exit of cross-border goods.

"We rely on the multimodal transport system of 'China Laos Railway+Western New Land Sea Channel' to launch the inspection and quarantine pilot at the destination of import fruit of the Western New Land Sea Channel, and import fresh bananas from Laos and fresh coconut green from Thailand to Chongqing without unpacking, effectively reducing the loss of goods." Zhou Baohua, deputy director of Mengla Customs, introduced.

Relying on the increasingly complete logistics network and supporting policies, the growth momentum of China Laos railway is striking. According to the statistics of Mengla Customs, as of June 30, 2026, China Laos Railway has operated more than 22000 international freight trains, with import and export freight volume of 19.353 million tons and value of 90.28 billion yuan. The categories of import and export goods have expanded from more than ten in the initial stage of opening to more than 3900 types such as new energy vehicles, tropical fruits, cool vegetables, and traditional Chinese medicine, radiating to 19 countries and regions, serving more than 7000 domestic foreign trade operators, and accelerating the development of a mutually beneficial economic and trade new landscape between China and ASEAN countries. (Zhou Wei/Text)