The closure of a border crossing to China in Myanmar’s northern Shan state has stranded more than 1,000 trucks transporting fruit, causing heavy financial losses for Myanmar farmers and traders exporting produce and seafood to Chinese consumers.
Soldiers shut down the Kyin San Kyawt border checkpoint north of the Muse township, creating a backup of hundreds of fruit trucks last week. No reason for this action was given, said Sai Myint Bo, chairman of the Muse Fruit Retailers Association told RFA’s Myanmar Service: “Myanmar farmers and fruit dealers have lost huge amounts of money because of this problem. Every truck has lost three tons of fruit each, and there are more than 1,000 trucks blocked there”
The Kyin San Kyawt area, which is also an entrance to the Chinese town of Wanding in Yunnan province’s Riuli city, is about 10 miles from Muse and three miles from the 105-mile trade zone in northern Shan state. Trucks from Myanmar transport fruit and other commodities into China through the border crossing, which are then sold in the market in Wanding.
Some fruit dealers say that about 1,500 trucks carrying watermelons from Myanmar have been blocked from crossing the border because of delays by Chinese authorities responsible for inspecting the contents of the vehicles due to a lack of manpower, reports rfa.org.
