Hekou Port in Southwest China's Yunnan Province has facilitated a huge increase in China-Vietnam cross-border trade in 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Vietnamese businesswoman Doan Kim Yen bought a lot of Chinese goods from local e-commerce platform Shopee on December 12, which was another online shopping bonanza known as "Double 12." 

Within two days, most of her purchases were shipped from inland Chinese provinces to Doan's warehouse in northern Vietnam's Lao Cai, crossing the border at nearby Hekou county. 

The 26-year-old said she started buying and selling Chinese goods to major Vietnamese cities when she was studying Chinese in Hekou in 2015. She used to use a tricycle to transport her cargo through customs at Hekou Port, which would take hours.

"A never-ending flow of trucks and delivery tricycles were a common sight at Hekou Port in 2015," Doan recalled. "I usually left my home in Lao Cai at 7 am and returned from Hekou with my goods at 8 pm. It was exhausting."

Since earlier this year, however, she only needs to make a few clicks on her smartphone to have her goods delivered.

Doan is among an increasing number of border traders who are cashing in on Hekou's burgeoning cross-border e-commerce sector, which has helped beef up the county's border trade.

According to customs data, Hekou Port registered a trade volume of 14.1 billion yuan (about $2 billion) in the first eight months of this year, surging 30.4 percent year-on-year.

Regional logistics hub

The county's cross-border e-commerce received a major boost when it became part of the Yunnan pilot free trade zone (FTZ), inaugurated in August this year.

The move aims to promote Yunnan's foreign trade, innovative cross-border cooperation and build Yunnan into China's open front to South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Luo Rongxu, vice governor of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture that administers Hekou, said as part of the Yunnan FTZ, the county  will focus on developing cross-border e-commerce and build itself into a regional cross-border logistics hub.

As of December 10, 73 e-commerce companies had set up operations in Hekou's China-ASEAN cross-border e-commerce logistics park, which was launched in October. Online sales of the companies exceeded 80 million yuan over the period.

Li Jianrong, general manager of an e-commerce company in the park, said his company can deliver up to 3,000 parcels, mainly garments, bags and shoes to Vietnamese customers during the peak season. 

"Vietnamese customers can place orders for our goods on popular local online shopping platforms like Lazada and Shopee. It takes only one day to transport the cargo from Hekou to Hanoi, and at most three days to reach Ho Chi Minh City," Li said.

He added that local authorities in Hekou have rolled out preferential policies such as rent reduction to attract more e-commerce companies. An online cargo declaration system has also been launched to improve clearance efficiency.

"With Hekou's geographical advantages and the great market potential in Southeast Asia, I expect to see more e-commerce start-ups in the county," Li said.

Xinhua - Global Times
Newspaper headline: Border no barrier to online business