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While many Vietnamese fruit companies are still following the old risky way of transporting their fruits to China’s border gates to wait for customers, some have done differently.

For a long time, local firms have transported their fruits to China through border gates and waited for their Chinese customers.

If they can’t find any customer, they simply waste thousands of tons of fruits.However, some, such as Tien Giang-based Long Giang Fruit Processing Co. has found a safer way to trade with China.

Director Nguyen Xuan Huy said he only brought the fruits to China after he had signed contracts with his Chinese customers.

Huy said since his business with Chinese traders had been done via direct contracts, he was no longer forced to sell at low prices, or to transport the fruits back when there were no customers.

The key, he said, is that his fruits have high quality. “My container trucks are now received by Chinese traders right at the border gates,” he said.

“Meanwhile, hundreds of trucks of other firms have to park there waiting to find buyers.”

He said many Chinese traders had come to his company in Vietnam to offer to buy his longans.

“Since our brand has become familiar to Chinese consumers, Chinese importers are willing to pay higher for it,” he said.

Huy said besides longans, Chinese traders also buy his bananas, sweet potatoes and blue dragons.

The current lucrative business of Long Giang Co. is completely different from 5 years ago, when the company sold fruits to China the old way.

Huy said he used to hire container trucks to carry longans to China via Tan Thanh and Lao Cai border gates and wait for buyers.

Vietnamese fruits companies could not sell directly to Chinese customers but often through brokers, who charged them a commission of CNY1 (US$0.15) on every basket of longans, he said.

Huy had to pay CNY3,000 for broker commissions on every container.

He said sometimes Chinese traders said his fruits had bad quality to bargain for a lower price.

“There were times when Chinese traders said they would only buy if we lowered our prices. Otherwise, we would have to carry our fruits back,” Huy said.

“So we often didn’t have any choice but sell to them at losses.”

Source: VNN