Erenhot City builds a national fast lane for fruits and vegetables directly to Mongolia

Cold chain transport vehicles loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, watermelons, etc. are ready to depart from Haogang Fruit and Vegetable Export Logistics Park in Erenhot City. After completing customs and border inspection procedures, they are about to clear customs and leave the country. These fresh fruits and vegetables will appear on supermarket shelves in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in a few hours and eventually be served on the dining tables of the country's residents.

According to statistics from Erenhot Customs, from January to April this year, 58000 tons of fruits and vegetables were exported to Mongolia through Erenhot Port, with a value of 142 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17%, becoming a new highlight driving the growth of port trade.

Due to the limitations of natural conditions and the scale of facility agriculture, Mongolia's self-produced fruits and vegetables can only meet less than 20% of the country's market demand, and more than 80% of the supply relies on imports from China. Among them, the Erenhot Port undertakes nearly 8% of the country's fruit and vegetable imports, becoming a key hub to ensure its livelihood needs.

As the largest comprehensive land port for Mongolia in China, Erenhot has complete transportation conditions and convenient customs clearance at the port. In particular, the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" initiative has been deeply implemented. Erenhot's export of fruits and vegetables has broken through the limitation of "one region, one region", forming an integrated development pattern of "national gathering of goods and two companies, cross-border sales covering the whole territory of Mongolia".

According to Zhao Long, the person in charge of Erlianhot Haogang Fruit Vegetable Grain and Oil Import and Export Park Co., Ltd., with the exception of Xinjiang, Xizang and other minority regions, other provinces and regions are the source of fruits and vegetables exported at Erlianhot Port, which is gradually promoted from south to north according to seasons. Winter mainly comes from provinces such as Fujian and Yunnan, spring is in provinces such as Shandong and Jiangsu, summer is in provinces such as Shanxi and Hebei, and autumn is concentrated in places such as Chifeng in Inner Mongolia.

After the transportation of fruits and vegetables from all over the country to Erenhot, they are uniformly stored in the Haogang Fruit and Vegetable Export Logistics Park. After the Mongolian distributor purchases, they complete the inspection, loading, and testing processes, and then transport the goods overseas by refrigerated trucks in Mongolia.

Since the beginning of this year, an average of 150 Mongolian refrigerated trucks loaded with fruits and vegetables have left the Erenhot port every month, with peak periods reaching up to over 50 vehicles per day.

It is reported that, except for the statutory holidays of China and Mongolia, the fruit and vegetable export operations at Erenhot Port are running continuously. Every day at around 2pm, empty Mongolian trucks enter the park, and the next day at around 4am, they start loading and leaving the country after inspection at around 10am, completing one export operation process.

At present, our fruit and vegetable export business has covered the entire territory of Mongolia, and the province of Bayan Olgii, which has the farthest sales, is more than 1800 kilometers away from the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. Recently, we are actively communicating with relevant parties in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, hoping to reach cooperation and gradually extend the development of the fruit and vegetable export industry to Russia, "Zhao Long said.

Efficient customs clearance mechanism is the core link to ensure the freshness of fruits and vegetables. Erlian Customs has opened a "fresh goods green channel" based on the characteristics of fruit and vegetable products, implementing an integrated operation mode of "inspection before shipment, appointment for sealing, and priority inspection and release". According to customs officials, the entire process of declaring and exiting fruit and vegetable goods has been compressed to within 2 hours. Through intelligent customs clearance systems and collaboration among multiple departments, the efficiency and quality of cross-border logistics have been improved.

It is reported that Haogang Fruit and Vegetable Export Logistics Park was first built in 2009, started construction that year, and was completed and put into use that year. From exporting over 60000 tons of fruits and vegetables annually to surpassing 170000 tons last year, it is not only a witness and participant in the development and growth of Erenhot Port, but also a vivid epitome of the deep integration of China Mongolia economic and trade.

By building a stable, efficient and large-scale cross-border supply chain for agricultural products, Erenhot Port has not only substantively supported Mongolia's "vegetable basket" project, but also become a model case of implementing the "the Belt and Road" facility connectivity and unimpeded trade. With the further improvement of the construction of smart ports and regional cooperation mechanisms, this "green channel" in northern Xinjiang will continue to support the two-way promotion of livelihood security and economic development in countries along the route.