Hong Kong customs to meet Guangdong counterparts to discuss resurgence in parallel trading, vows crackdown
- Traders buy goods in city to resell in mainland China at profit, bypassing hefty import and value-added tariffs
- Sheung Shui MTR station hotspot has returned to prominence after resumption of regular travel between Hong Kong and mainland
Hong Kong customs has vowed to crack down on a resurgence in parallel trading after the full reopening of the border with mainland China, announcing officers will meet their Guangdong counterparts this week to discuss dealing with the smuggling activities.
Parallel goods traders have been spotted operating outside Sheung Shui MTR station at the Hong Kong border town since regular travel between the city and the mainland resumed on February 6, according to government sources.
The traders, who buy goods in the city to resell on the mainland at a profit, have smuggled items such as cosmetic products, red wine and dried seafood, across the border in an effort to evade hefty mainland import and value-added tariffs, the Post has learned.
A source on Monday said intelligence indicated the cross-border couriers were mainly local residents who were paid anywhere from dozens of dollars to more than HK$100 (US$13) per trip to bring goods across the border.
“[Couriers] pick up these items on the streets outside Sheung Shui MTR station. After crossing the border, they hand the goods to designated people outside the mainland checkpoint in Shenzhen,” he said. “Each round trip takes less than an hour. They could make two or three trips a day and pocket several hundred dollars.”
The station is only one stop from the border crossings at Lo Wu and the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line.
To tackle the parallel trading activities, a team of customs officers led by Assistant Commissioner for Intelligence and Investigation Mark Woo Wai-kwan will go to Guangzhou on Wednesday and meet their Guangdong counterparts.
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“We will exchange intelligence and discuss strategy to combat parallel-goods traders,” another source said. “Our aim is to crack down on such illegal activities and contain the problem at its early stage.”
He said they would investigate whether syndicates were behind the cross-border parallel trading activities and also study whether such trade extended to other districts.
Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing chaired an interdepartmental meeting on February 10 that reviewed the situation in different districts after the resumption of travel between the mainland and Hong Kong following a three-year closure of major checkpoints during the Covid-19 pandemic. It covered the planning of operations against parallel trading hotspots in the city.
In response to the resurgence of the activities outside the Sheung Shui MTR station and to prevent further expansion, police and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department would conduct frequent patrols and joint law enforcement operations in hotspots, authorities said.
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The department, they added, would install closed-circuit television in those areas and step up street cleaning efforts.
Before the pandemic and the 2019 anti-government protests in the city, parallel trading activity in Sheung Shui was rife, fuelled by higher taxes on consumer products across the border and mainland shoppers’ confidence in the quality of Hong Kong goods.
Tourists and parallel traders were often seen outside pharmacies or the Sheung Shui MTR station packing various consumer items into suitcases. The issue provoked the ire of some locals who led several protests against the groups that were blamed for blocking and disrupting pedestrians.
