Ministry of Industry and Trade refuses to 'manage' milk prices

The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that the Ministry of Finance is the agency in charge, coordinating with other ministries and branches to inspect price formation factors for goods and services in the list of goods and services subject to price stabilization.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade recently sent a document to comment and respond to the proposal that this agency will manage the price of milk products for children under 6 years old, made by the Ministry of Finance.

This is not the first time the Ministry of Finance has "pushed" the responsibility of milk price management to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and just like last time, the industry and trade sector once again refused.

Milk products for children under 6 years old have had their prices capped by the price management agency since June 2014.

According to the draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 177 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Prices and Article 24 of the Law on Fees and Charges, the Ministry of Finance has proposed transferring the management of milk prices to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Specifically, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is recommended to receive and review the Price Registration Form, provide guidance on price registration for milk for children under 6 years old; preside over and coordinate with ministries and branches to advise and propose to the Government for decision and guidance, and organize the implementation of price stabilization measures such as regulating supply and demand of goods, controlling inventories, etc.

This agency is also proposed to preside over price registration, check the factors that form and determine the maximum, minimum or price range for milk for children under 6 years old and, together with the Ministry of Finance, manage and supervise the list of these items.

Thus, according to this proposal, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will manage all issues related to milk prices, from declaration to determining the factors that form the prices of these products.

However, in a document recently sent by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the financial sector, the ministry once again rejected the above proposal.

Citing a series of current legal regulations,The document of the Ministry of Industry and Trade signed by Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai stated that, according to the provisions of the Law on Prices,The Ministry of Finance is the presiding agency, coordinating with ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and provincial People's Committees to inspect price formation factors for goods and services on the list of goods and services subject to price stabilization (including milk for children under 6 years old).

"The Law on Prices has clearly defined the state management function of the Ministry of Finance on this content. The draft Decree proposing to assign it to the Ministry of Industry and Trade would be illegal," the document of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

Regarding functions and tasks, the industry and trade sector also affirmed that,Only assigned to manage the development of domestic trade and market, ensure the balance of supply and demand of goods, regulate the circulation of goods in each period...

"To comply with current legal regulations and management practices, the Ministry of Finance should continue to take the lead role as it is now or coordinate with the Ministry of Health in receiving declaration documents, registering prices and applying price stabilization measures for functional foods for children under 6 years old and milk for children under 6 years old," the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated its opinion.

Milk productsh for children under 6 years old was included in the list of stabilized goods and had its price ceiling applied since June 2014 after a series of other management measures such as registration and declaration of prices were ineffective. Accordingly, the authorities announced the wholesale price ceiling for more than 600 powdered milk products, the retail price is regulated to not be more than 15% higher than this wholesale price.

Currently, there are about 877 recognized milk products for children under 6 years old nationwide.Announce maximum prices, registered prices, and declared prices on the Electronic Information Portal of the Ministry of Finance and local Departments of Finance.

Statistics from the Price Management Department, Ministry of Finance show that, compared to the time before the ceiling was imposed, the retail prices of these dairy products decreased by about 0.1-34%.While consumers still believe that milk prices are high, businesses report that sales and profits have seriously declined.

According to VNE