Inspection team set up to check rice volume stuck at ports

Ho Chi Minh City — An interdisciplinary inspection team led by the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been established to work with agencies to determine how much rice is stuck at ports so that the ministry can come up with an appropriate rice export plan.

Rice loaded for export. An interdisciplinary inspection team was set up to check how much rice is stuck at ports.  — VNA/VNS Photo

The inspection team is led by Deputy Minister Trần Quốc Khánh, and the team’s deputy heads includes the director and deputy director of the Import and Export Department.

The team includes the leaders of the Agricultural Products Processing and Market Development Department and Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agricultural and Rural development), General Department of Customs (Ministry of Finance), Department of Economic Security (Ministry of Public Security), and the Việt Nam Food Association.

The mission of the team is to work with customs authorities and a number of agencies to determine the actual amount of rice volume at ports. The team will then write a report on the rice export situation in April and recommend measures to regulate rice exports in May. This will be submitted to Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.

The team’s working time is expected to be from April 20 to April 24 and will dissolve upon completion of the task.

The establishment of the inspection team arose after chaotic developments occurred when the General Department of Customs began accepting online customs declarations from rice exporters on April 12 after the Government approved the resumption of rice exports but capped them at around 400,000 tonnes for April.

Many rice exporters were left disappointed since the quota of 400,000 tonnes was reached within only three hours. And many firms with rice consignments stuck at ports were unable to submit declarations.

In recent days, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has received many documents from rice exporters saying that the opening of the e-customs declaration software system has not been transparent since many firms have not received prior notice.

Some said that they could not access the system due to system error. In addition, some companies said that they had successfully submitted declaration forms, but the forms then disappeared on the e-customs system.