New China-Thai railway sparks bug scare
THE NATION
One month after the China-Laos-Thai railway opened, Thai authorities are worried that freight trains loaded with Chinese vegetables and flowers could also be importing unwelcome arrivals into the country.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Mananya Thaiset has ordered Nong Khai officials to tighten checks for pests and Covid-19 in the Chinese goods.
Since the railway opened on December 3, Nong Khai has inspected 159 Chinese shipments totalling 2,292 tons and valued at 41 million baht (as of January 3).
The top imported item was Chinese cabbage (419 tons), followed by broccoli (253 tons), pointed cabbage (120 tons), saussurea flowers (81 tons) and turnips (80 tons).
The Nong Khai checkpoint has so far seized two Chinese vegetable shipments for lacking a phytosanitary certificate and will destroy them within 14 days.
