|
Ministry cuts red tape for some steel product imports
The Ministry of Industry and Trade recently issued Circular No.31/2010/TT-BTC on offering automatic import licences for some steel products, according to Nguyen Thanh Bien, deputy minister of Industry and Trade.
Under the circular, domestic importers of non-alloy flat rolled steel products with a width of over 600mm and the zinc-plated and coloured steel products will have to receive permission from the ministry.
The ministry will offer the automatic import licences for importers under the form of confirmation for import application for each batch.
The ministry's import-export management department will take responsibility for issuing the licence to the enterprises within seven days of the enterprises submitting their import application.
The circular will take effect as of September and will expire on December 31, 2010.
The move aims to prevent an influx of imported steel products, especially those already produced by domestic enterprises, a problem which has partly contributed to the country's trade deficit.
Pham Chi Cuong, Chairman of the Viet Nam Steel Association said that the automatic licences on import products would aid authorities in exercising greater control over these imports.
In the first six months of the year, the country imported more than 200,000 tonnes of rolled steel products, including 41,000 tonnes in June alone, according to the association.
Most steel products imported to Viet Nam come from ASEAN countries and China.
At present, the retail steel price of domestic enterprises stands at VND14.3-14.5 million (US$752-762) per tonne while imported steel products are VND500,000- 700,000 cheaper per tonne than domestic products.
The majority of imported steel products consist of construction, zinc-plated, and coloured steel despite domestic producers having excess capacity.
The automatic import licences have been applied by the ministry of Industry and Trade from early 2009 and at present there are eight commodities which have to apply for automatic import licences.
In May this year, the ministry proposed to expand this list to 26 commodities, of which majority are food, fashion and interior products.
vietnamnews
|
