Suppliers of foreign dairy products may still be forced to register prices

The Price Control Agency under the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is attempting to force foreign dairy product suppliers  to register prices.

In an attempt to control dairy product prices, the Tax Policy Department previously attempted to set a ceiling price on dairy products. However, the plan was criticised by experts as unfeasible.

Deputy minister of MOF Tran Van Hieu said that it would be impossible to set ceiling price levels for several hundreds of dairy products with prices fluctuating daily.

Therefore, MOF has to think of another solution to the price problem and the Price Control Agency now suggests requiring dairy product suppliers to register sales prices.

Under current regulations, sale price registration is required when producers and suppliers are economic groups, general corporations, joint stock companies or limited companies with more than 50 percent of chartered capital belonging to the State.

Now, according to a draft document being compiled by the Price Control Agency, price registration should also be required on foreign made dairy produce.

This means dairy product distributors will have to inform to government agencies about prices they intend to apply. Registered sale prices will be considered by management agencies which will give approval or refusal within eight days.

Vu Thi Bach Nga, head of the Government’s Consumers’ Rights Protection Committee has confirmed powdered milk importers  held a recent a working session with her committee to discuss sale prices.

At the meeting, Nga said, some dairy product importers said it was unreasonable to compare the sale prices of dairy products in Vietnam and the rest of the world. The importers say sale prices in Vietnam are higher than elsewhere because of a number of reasons including the the higher cost of advertising.

A recent report by the Vietnam Standards and Consumer Protection Association shows retail price of dairy imports 46 percent higher than prices of domestically made products. Foreign made products have the average sale price of 32,100 dong per litre, while it is 22,000 dong only for made in Vietnam milk.

vietnamnet, tp

>   Prices rise as computer equipment and mobile phones in short supply (16/10/2009)

>   Nuclear power plant: The cheapest does not always mean the best (16/10/2009)

>   MOLISA says it does not intend to extend labour support package (16/10/2009)

>   World recession is tough on Vietnam shipbuilder (16/10/2009)

>   146-million-USD loan contract inked for Polypropylene project (16/10/2009)

>   Steel mills lust for iron ore; mining provinces have the whip hand (16/10/2009)

>   Chinese eggs bleached in Vietnamese village scam (16/10/2009)

>   Microsoft offers cheap software to Internet shops (16/10/2009)

>   Vietnam halts sand exports from Mekong Delta (16/10/2009)

>   Vietnam’s first cargo airline licensed (16/10/2009)