Export for 17,000 tons of rice jammed at ports resumed

The General Department of Vietnam Customs has announced the list of 14 enterprises that are allowed to register customs declaration from April 25 to 30 to export around 17,000 tons of rice stuck at border gates and international ports for having not been able to register customs declaration in the previous time.

In the evening of April 24, the office of the General Department of Vietnam Customs informed that this agency had sent an express No. 2638 to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) and rice export enterprises on the resumption of rice export registration in April this year for cargo that has been brought into ports and border gates but has not been exported.

Based on the response of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the Ministry of Finance on April 24 on how to handle batches of rice sent to international ports and border gates before March 24 this year but have not been able to register customs declaration, the Vietnam Customs has set up on the VNACCS/VCIS system for enterprises to carry out the registration of customs declaration from 0 a.m. on April 25 until the end of April 30 for these shipments.

Accordingly, the Vietnam Customs has released the detailed list of enterprises whose cargo has been brought into ports and border gates after the latest count and review and asked these enterprises not to register customs declaration with a quantity exceeding the actual quantity of rice they brought into international seaports and border gates.

Enterprises that have batches of rice kept at international seaports and border gates before March 24 but have not been listed should send their detailed information to the Vietnam Customs enclosing with the confirmation of the customs offices and port enterprises to be updated into the system.

As for customs declarations that have been registered in the quota of 400,000 tons in April but enterprises have not produced goods for customs offices to check after more than 15 days since the registration of customs declarations, the Vietnam Customs said that they will be canceled following the regulations and provincial and municipal customs offices are in charge of reporting to the Vietnam Customs before 9 a.m. on April 27 this year.

Based on the canceled volume, the Vietnam Customs will reinstate the export quota in April this year and will announce publicly on its portal and set up the VNACSS/VCIS system for enterprises to continue to register customs declaration from April 28.

According to the VFA, around 200,000 tons of rice is estimated to be jammed at ports and border gates after the order to suspend the export of rice to ensure food security and the application of an export quota of 400,000 tons of rice in April this year.

The list announced by the Vietnam Customs includes only 14 enterprises that are allowed to register customs declaration from April 25 to export nearly 17,400 tons of rice because they have sent their goods into ports before March 24. The amount of rice is currently at ports in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho City, An Giang, Long An, and Dong Thap provinces.

If compared with the amount of 100,000 tons of rice in the quota of May this year that are allowed to advance under the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung at the Notice No.163 of the Government Office, the amount of rice allowed to export this time merely accounts for 20 percent of the advanced quota and is extremely small compared to the amount of rice congested at ports, the VFA estimated.

By 9 p.m. on April 24, just more than 150,000 tons of rice of the total export quota of rice in April were cleared for customs approval, accounting for around 37.5 percent.