Industry and Trade News May 20: Domestic market - a safety net for businesses when exports face difficulties

Import and export sector

Construction Newspaper today, May 20, published information: " Getting opinions on preferential import of dry tobacco and rice from Cambodia"

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is seeking comments on the draft Circular regulating import tariff quotas for two strategic commodities, dried tobacco leaves and rice originating from the Kingdom of Cambodia, applicable for the 2025-2026 period. This move is within the framework of the bilateral trade promotion agreement recently signed between Vietnam and Cambodia. A notable point of the draft is the proposal to apply tariff quotas with a special preferential tax rate of 0% for both dried tobacco leaves and rice imported from Cambodia in 2025 and 2026. The subjects of the Circular are traders who need to import these two commodities under quotas, as well as organizations and individuals related to this activity.

Dai Doan Ket Newspaper published the news: "Resolving the bottleneck of raw materials for seafood export"

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), since Decree 37/2024 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 26/2019 of the Government on guiding the 2017 Fisheries Law took effect (May 19, 2024), Vietnam's canned tuna exports have been unstable. Ms. Nguyen Ha - tuna market expert of Vasep said: "Up to now, after nearly 1 year of Decree 37 taking effect, businesses and fishermen are facing many difficulties and pressures. The current regulations of the Decree make it impossible for many batches of raw tuna to have a certificate of exploitation of raw materials (S/C) and create many consequences for the production - export chain. Businesses want to prioritize the use of domestic raw materials to create jobs for fishermen but cannot do so"

Giving the reason, Ms. Ha said that after Decree 37 was issued, the exploitation of seafood, especially tuna products, encountered major problems related to regulations on the minimum size allowed for exploitation and regulations on not mixing imported seafood materials with domestically exploited seafood materials in the same export shipment. These problems have significantly affected the lives of fishermen and the export activities of seafood enterprises in recent times.

Energy sector

News site bnews.vn reported: "Urgent warning about fraudulent website impersonating Northern Power Corporation"

According to the Northern Power Corporation (EVNNPC), recently, in addition to many increasingly sophisticated tricks of impersonating electricity industry employees to scam people over the phone, there have also been many fake electricity industry websites that advise customers to call the customer care hotline with call charges 8 times higher.

Specifically, at the address https://cskh.org.vn/, with the link https://cskh.org.vn/cong-ty-dien-luc-mien-bac/, the entire content, logo, process and hotline number of the Northern Power Corporation (EVNNPC) were illegally copied, with the aim of deceiving customers, encouraging customers to call 1900.0317 with a fee of up to 8,000 VND/minute, 8 times higher than the official fee of EVNNPC and potentially causing great financial loss as well as theft of personal and banking information.

The tricks of the criminals are very sophisticated in falsifying not only the information content but also the interface design almost identical to the official page. When clicking on the "Contact EVNNPC Call Center" section, customers will be instructed to call 1900.0317, immediately have a high fee deducted and will not receive any support services from the electricity industry. More seriously, many customers are also asked to install fake applications or access links containing malicious code, leading to the disclosure of citizen identification, bank accounts and OTP codes, creating opportunities for cybercriminals to steal money from personal accounts.

Domestic market sector

Financial Times reported: "Domestic market - a safety net for businesses when exports face difficulties"

In the current trade context, the domestic market is considered a "lifebuoy" for Vietnamese businesses and industries. Mr. Dau Anh Tuan - Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry said so when answering reporters about the pressures and opportunities when exploiting the domestic market of businesses. The domestic market is always an attractive market for Vietnamese businesses. With a population of more than 100 million people, mainly in the middle and high income segment, this market has great potential and plays the role of a "lifebuoy" for businesses, in addition to expanding to find new markets.

In particular, in the context of global trade facing many uncertainties due to tariff barriers and unpredictable factors, the domestic market becomes a great opportunity for many Vietnamese businesses and industries. Therefore, to build a solid foundation, businesses need to "go on two legs", both exploiting the international market and consolidating their position in the domestic market.

It is necessary to arouse the pride of "Vietnamese people prioritize using Vietnamese products" to promote development. Illustrative photo

The Lao Dong Newspaper published the information: " Vietnamese coffee awakens the potential of the domestic market"

The Vietnamese coffee industry is facing a golden opportunity to transform, especially in the domestic market. Coffee prices have remained high since the end of 2023, bringing excitement to coffee growers in the Central Highlands. However, behind the positive price signals, the Vietnamese coffee industry is still facing many old "bottlenecks" that have not been resolved such as: fragmented production, weak domestic consumption, limited deep processing... Developing the domestic market will contribute significantly to helping the coffee industry cope with major fluctuations in the current world market.

Hai Duong Newspaper reported: "Thanh Ha litchi trade promotion conference scheduled to be held on May 30"

According to the People's Committee of Thanh Ha district, the district will coordinate with the Office of the People's Committee of Hai Duong province, the Department of Trade Promotion (Ministry of Industry and Trade) and a number of departments and branches to organize a conference to promote Thanh Ha litchi trade with trade counselors and foreign enterprises.

The program is scheduled to be held on the morning of May 30 to promote trade, promote the quality and brand of Thanh Ha litchi, stimulate domestic consumption and export. Strengthen the search for new markets, potential markets, expand existing markets through the Vietnamese trade office system abroad. Learn and grasp market demand, import and export regulations of foreign markets to be proactive in production and consumption of litchi and agricultural products of the province. Introduce the potential and strengths of Thanh Ha litchi and other goods and agricultural products of Hai Duong province, gradually building a value chain for the province's agricultural products in a sustainable direction. Early in the morning of May 30, units organized a ceremony to open the litchi garden for harvest in Thanh Lanh village (Thanh Quang commune) and cut the ribbon to export litchi at Thanh Binh square (Thanh Ha).

This year, Thanh Ha lychee output is expected to reach about 35,000 tons (documentary photo)

E-commerce sector

The news site vnbusiness.vn posted the information: " 'Tightening' online sales tax management: Some support, others are anxious"

The tax authorities' tightening of tax management on online sales activities is creating many conflicting opinions. Some people see this as an opportunity to develop more transparency, creating more opportunities in the future. On the contrary, some sellers are concerned about the difficulty of developing in the context of declining consumer demand.

The Tax Department (Ministry of Finance) said it is collecting information on taxpayers doing e-commerce business. In case of not receiving cooperation, the tax sector will handle tax evasion. According to current regulations, individual business households with revenue of 100 million VND/year or more must pay value added tax (VAT) and 0.5% personal income tax, not including e-commerce platform fees (usually ranging from a few percent to 20%).

Industry and Trade Newspaper

Source: https://congthuong.vn/tin-cong-thuong-205-thi-truong-trong-nuoc-phao-an-toan-cho-doanh-nghiep-khi-xuat-khau-gap-kho-388503.html