International delivery service provider DHL Express India says it will stop collecting incoming shipments from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau for 10 days due to customs delays at all ports across India.

Amid growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the country, Indian customs officers have been examining many consignments from China at air cargo complexes in Chennai and New Delhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata and Jawaharlal Nehru Port east of Mumbai.

The delays surfaced after at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a brutal brawl with the People’s Liberation Army of China in a disputed border area on June 15.

In response to DHL’s announcement on Thursday, Hongkong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics chairman Brian Wu said that made-in-Hong Kong products should not have encountered problems clearing Indian customs.

Wu suggested that Hong Kong products could have been mistaken as having been made in mainland China, since a large volume of mainland Chinese exports to India were shipped through Hong Kong or Macau.

He said that June was a low season for exports, so it would take more time to observe how the customs delays would pan out. Exports from Hong Kong to India were mainly electronic devices such as outdated mobile phones, he added.

Apple Daily tried to book a delivery on the DHL official website but found that no arrangement could be made for cargoes from either mainland China or Hong Kong until at least July 2.

In 2019, Hong Kong’s exports to India amounted to HK$118 billion (US$15.2 billion), accounting for 3% of the city’s total exports.

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