Vietnamese firms cannot help importing agricultural materials, said Phan The Hao, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s office in southern Vietnam.
The sharp rise of 80% in agricultural material import value to $4.65 billion in the first four months of 2010 stemmed from the recovery of the global economy, which also brought in more contracts to Vietnamese firms and forced them to boost imports of materials for processing, he said.
Under the Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN and China, and the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) in the ASEAN bloc, taxes will be cut to 0% and 5%, which made material prices cheaper, the official said.
Explaining about the sharp increases of wheat by 61% to 36,000 tons worth $155 million, up 56% on year during the Jan-Apr period, Hao said wheat is not among the list of import restriction commodities, adding that the ministry will consider whether wheat is an essential commodity or not soon.
Tran Thi Thuy Hoa, general secretary of the Vietnam Rubber Association said local firms doubled imports of synthetic rubber in the Jan-Apr 2010 period for processing because they have received more orders from foreign partners. She said in the first quarter, the firms reduced imports of natural rubber to only 19,000 tons from 35,000 tons a year earlier.
The Vietnam Timber Association said firms’ imports of hard wood rose 30%, and soft wood rose 20%-30% in the Jan-Apr period because they inked deals to export woodworks by the end of the third quarter. Increasing timber prices resulted in the rises in import revenues while imported volume was the same, the association said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said the rampancy of rice diseases in the first months of 2010 forced them to increase expenditures on imported pesticides by 38% to nearly $150 million. But the year’s total expenditures will only around $500 million, equal to that of 2009.
Hoang Kim Giao, head of the ministry’s department of animal husbandry said local animal husbandry industry has so far depended on imported materials, admitting that the department failed to control the import quantity because it is upon firms’ business strategies.
According to the MoIT, Vietnam imported $1.5 billion worth of agricultural, forestry and fisheries materials in Apr, raising the total in the first four months to $4.65 billion, up 80% on year, with 75% of which was from China. (STD)
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