Source: vietnambiz.vn
Recently, the Vietnam Dairy Products Association issued Official Letter No. 67 to Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, proposing the policy of importing raw and refined sugar under the tariff quota in 2022.
According to the official dispatch, the Vietnam Dairy Association said that the total demand for sugar materials across the country is estimated at nearly 2 million tons. However, domestic production of sugar materials is estimated at only 741,000 tons. Total sugar imported from January to June 2022 is estimated at 600,000 tons.
Therefore, the Vietnam Dairy Association proposed to Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh to add 600,000 – 800,000 tons of import tariff quotas for sugar to ensure the demand for sugar materials across the country (billion VND) allocation ratio of 70% raw sugar and 30% refined sugar).
Regarding the time to organize the allocation of quotas, the Association proposed to organize two more auctions for the allocation of tariff quotas for sugar imports in October 2022 and November 2022.
In addition, the Vietnam Dairy Association also proposed that the Government strengthen the establishment of an import mechanism for raw and refined sugar that is more flexible than the current policies.
The official dispatch also said that many members of the association realized that, instead of focusing on trade remedies as at present, the Government could consider promulgating strategic-oriented policies for the industry. sugarcane to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam’s sugar industry in the international market.
According to the Vietnam Dairy Association, trade remedy measures usually only bring positive signals to domestic sugarcane producers, but they have a great impact and influence on businesses producing dairy products. chemicals that use sugar as a raw material for production.
Specifically, for sweetened condensed milk products that some members of the Association are producing, sugar is one of the main ingredients to produce finished products with sugar in the product accounting for about 40-45%. . Therefore, when sugar is subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tax, the price of raw sugar increases, leading to an increase of nearly 10% in the price of a 380-gram can of condensed milk compared to before.
“Meanwhile, finished sweetened condensed milk products imported into Vietnam have the advantage of being able to use cheap sugar materials because they are not subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tax. enjoy preferential import tax of 0% when entering the Vietnamese market, so the prices of imported products are much more competitive than those of domestic products,” the Vietnam Dairy Association cited.
