Rice "flows" illegally to China

Vietnam's rice exports in the first nine months decreased by 13% in volume and 17% in value (only reaching 5.2 million tons with a value of more than 2.3 billion USD) compared to the same period in 2012. It is expected that the rice export turnover in 2013 will be difficult to reach the target because the world's rice supply is surplus and a large amount of domestic rice is being massively exported to China.

Vietnam is lacking rice for export due to massive unofficial exports to China.

Mr. Truong Thanh Phong - Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) - said that the expected rice export turnover in 2013 will reach about 7.5 million tons, but in reality it will be difficult to reach 7 million tons. Although the export turnover of this item from the beginning of the year until now has decreased significantly compared to the target, in the last months of the year, Vietnam still has no rice to export. The reason is that the volume of rice exported by unofficial channels through the northern border provinces to China is too large.

According to incomplete statistics of VFA, from the beginning of the year until now, the amount of rice exported through unofficial channels to the Chinese market is about 1,200 thousand tons. Currently, rice export activities at the northern border gates, especially at the border gate of Lao Cai province, are very busy.

VFA's survey also shows that, while at the beginning of October, the amount of rice exported to China at the border gates of the northern provinces was only about 5,000 tons per day, at present, the amount of rice exported has reached 8,000 - 10,000 tons per day. At the Lao Cai border gate area, there are currently about 30 enterprises without export licenses but still collecting rice for export. The price of rice exported at the border gates is about 9,000 VND/kg and does not require high quality standards.

“Currently, some Northern enterprises going to the South ask enterprises with rice export contacts to export on consignment. All procedures for goods are handled by the consignor, the consignee only needs to sign the export contract. This will lead to a situation where although the contract is registered through the association, there are no statistics on export volume. If this situation continues, the tax refund of the food industry will be as chaotic as the current situation of the coffee industry,” Mr. Phong worried.

To limit the above situation, Mr. Phong said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade should direct the northern border provinces to require exporting enterprises to register with the local Department of Industry and Trade to avoid the situation of fake exports for tax settlement. At the same time, VFA also advised southern enterprises not to sign export contracts because doing so will adversely affect the reputation of genuine exporting enterprises.

According to baocongthuong-PH