58 containers of Vietnamese pepper exported to Nepal are stuck at this country’s port and on the Nepal-India border, leaving businesses at great risk of loss.
Harvesting pepper in Binh Phuoc. Photo: Tran Trung.
According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), there are currently 58 pepper containers of 13 Vietnamese businesses trapped for months at Birgunj port (Nepal) and at Kolkata port (Nepal-India border), The total value is over US $ 3 million.
The reason is that on March 25, 2020, the Nepalese Government issued a ban on the import of 5 items, including pepper. This ban takes effect on April 6, 2020 and does not apply to LCs opened before March 29, 2020.
This means that shipments of pepper that were exported before March 29, 2020 are still allowed to import by the Nepalese Government.
Information from the importers of Nepal pepper also said that the ban only applies to shipments shipped to Nepal after March 29, 2020, while previous export shipments are still allowed to enter normally.
However, after the shipments of pepper from Vietnam (exported before March 29, 2020) arrived in Nepal, the Vietnamese exporter requested the importer to pay, the Nepalese importers announced that they were not Having a import license from the government, Nepalese banks do not accept payments.
In this situation, pepper exporting enterprises contacted the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnamese Embassy in India and the International Pepper Association to ask for assistance in re-exporting the above pepper containers to Vietnam. Male.
At the request of enterprises, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam has sent a note to the Government of Nepal proposing clearance of stuck pepper shipments or creating favorable conditions for customs procedures for re-exporting enterprises. these shipments to Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Embassy in India also spoke directly with the Standing Deputy Minister of Nepal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Supplies on this issue.
However, nearly a month has passed but the case still seems to be stalled because of many troublesome procedures, lack of cooperation between the ministries and branches of Nepal, making many businesses worried whether Nepal is willing to return these shipments to Vietnam or not?
An enterprise exporting pepper to Nepal has a stuck, urgent shipment: “Our company does not have any errors in the ban of the Nepalese Government. Because our consignments are all shipped before the ban is enacted.
If the goods arrive at the place where the government of the country does not allow import, we must give permission for re-export. At present, our business is sitting on a fire because the shipment has been over 3 months at Birgunj port.
For more than 2 months now, we have asked the importer to complete the procedures to re-export pepper containers to Vietnam for us but it seems that things are not progressing.
We are currently operating moderately because all the capital has been put into these containers, facing many difficulties due to overdue interest rates from banks, container storage fees, storage yards increased exponentially. According to each day and more dangerous is the quality of moldy goods, when they have to stay in the port for too long.
In case the importing country does not return the goods, we have to go bankrupt. “
The situation of the Covid-19 epidemic in Nepal and India is increasing every day, the Indian Government is re-enforcing the blockade of some states, making businesses with shipments of pepper to Nepal suffer from jammed, not knowing when the above shipments will be re-exported.
More than 3 million USD is not small amount for pepper businesses, especially in difficult times due to Covid-19 epidemic.
In this situation, VPA and pepper exporting enterprises request the Government and related ministries and agencies to take measures to intervene with the Government of Nepal to support the rescue of long-trapped pepper containers. days at Birgunj port (Nepal), helping businesses to re-export these consignments soon to Vietnam.
According to the newspaper NNVN
