Vietnam Raises Import Tax on Oil Products Again
The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance has announced that the import tariffs on several oil products will be increased from today September 26 following a sharp fall in world crude oil price.
Accordingly, the import duties on gasoline, naphtha and reformate are now 15 per cent instead of 10 per cent as previously.
Meanwhile, the tax rate on base oil for lubricant blending and greases are unchanged at 5 per cent.
However, kerosene and diesel oil are still exempted from import duties.
This is the third time in a month Vietnam hikes import taxes on oil products. The two previous rises took place on September 5 and 18.
International oil prices have dropped to below US$60 a barrel from about US$75/bbl two months ago.
However, according to the Ministry of Trade, no scheme on the reduction of retail prices of petroleum products is considered at the moment.
Under the Vietnamese rule, the government fixes selling prices of major petroleum products. The state coffers will handle losses from sales of oil products.
Despite being the sixth largest crude oil producer in Asia, Vietnam has to import all refined oil to feed its national energy demand as it lacks refining facilities.
Vietnam is forecast to import 13 million metric tons of petroleum products this year, up from last year’s 11.3 million tons.
Labour, Liberated Saigon
Vietnamese
