According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), the reason is that the Nepalese government banned the import of 5 items, including pepper from April 6 (not applicable to consignments with registered credit). Payment guarantee opened before 29-3). According to VPA, up to 58 containers (equivalent to 1,300 tons) of 13 enterprises (enterprises) exporting Vietnamese pepper are stuck at Birgunj port (Nepal) and Kolkata port (India) for 2-3 months without customs clearance, can not re-export to Vietnam.
Ms. Tran Phuoc Hau, Deputy General Director of Tran Chau Import Export Service Trading Joint Stock Company (Ho Chi Minh City), said her company has been doing business with Nepal partners for many years and they are very reputable. From February to March 25 (before the time of Nepal’s ban), enterprises had exported 22 containers of pepper valued at over US $ 1 million to Nepal but were not paid by the importer on the grounds that they did not have one. import license. We want to bring the goods back to minimize the damage but not. Obviously in this case, the enterprise has no fault but bears the consequences ”- Ms. Hau worried.
According to Ms. Phung Thu Huyen, Director of Nam International Co., Ltd. – another enterprise in Ho Chi Minh City that has a product stuck in Nepal, she has lost sleep and sleep for months. “We are in urgent need of the intervention of all levels of government to rescue trapped goods because export enterprises are burdening a series of storage and storage costs. Now, if the goods are brought back, businesses will also lose up to 50% “- Ms. Huyen expressed.
Harvesting pepper in Ia Vê commune, Chu Prong district, Gia Lai province. Photo: HOANG THANH
A representative of an enterprise explained that when containers arrive at the port, the shipping line will let them lie for 7-10 days for free, then apply the increasing price list. The first week is 70 USD / day / container, the second week to 100 USD and from the third week onwards is 170 USD. As above calculation, if the goods are stored from over 3 months, the amount to pay for one container is up to 16,000-17,000 USD. “This is a huge amount of money for businesses in the middle of difficult business, even in the past 2 months, we have to owe workers wages because they are stuck in money” – a pressing business representative.
Enterprises said that when the incident occurred, they contacted the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnamese Embassy in India, the International Pepper Association (IPC) and VPA for assistance. The Ministry of Industry and Trade immediately sent a diplomatic note proposing to Nepal for the clearance of shipments or creating favorable conditions on customs procedures for enterprises to re-export goods to Vietnam because the ban was inconsistent with the spirit of freedom. trade and also without prior notice to the parties concerned. Meanwhile, IPC has cooperated with the Embassy, VPA and exporting enterprises to send requests to the Government of India and Nepal to support the settlement of re-exported shipments to Vietnam. At the same time, IPC also supports requiring shipping lines to consider cutting storage costs. However, almost a month has passed but the incident still seems to stay still.
Prior to the incident, Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai, Chairman of VPA, petitioned the Vietnamese authorities to take measures for the Nepalese government to re-export the 58 containers. “Currently, the costs of warehousing and storing up to 35% -40% of the value of the shipment. If the shipment remains stuck, the damage will be even greater. In case the shipment is re-exported, VPA expects shipping lines involving 58 containers to share risks with exporters by reducing 70% of warehousing costs and bringing goods back ”- Mr. Hai proposed.
According to Mr. Hai, 13 enterprises having stuck shipments in Nepal are small and medium enterprises, 3 million USD is a huge amount for them, especially in the difficult situation due to Covid-19. “From the above incident, to avoid risks, exporters must learn the regulations of the importing country from time to time, not only listen to the importer’s notice to avoid damage” – Mr. Hai warned.
Export value decreased by more than 20%
According to the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the export volume of pepper in June was estimated at 22,000 tons, worth US $ 48 million, bringing the export volume and value of the lake. the first 6 months of the year reached 168,000 tons and 358 million USD, down 4.8% in volume and down 20.7% over the same period in 2019.
According to the Labor Newspaper
