The Ministry of Industry and Trade and businesses are working to handle 58 containers of peppercorn currently stuck in Nepal (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is working with Nepalese authorities to bring home 58 containers of peppercorn stuck in the country after it recently banned imports of the commodity.
According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), the 58 containers from 13 Vietnamese businesses are worth some 3 million USD and have been stuck in Nepal for about two months.
Peppercorn is one of five items the Nepalese Government recently imposed import ban on. Though these batches had been shipped to Nepal prior to the ban taking effect, they have still not been handled.
Shortly after receiving a notification from the VPA, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh sent a letter to the Nepalese Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to request support for the Vietnamese businesses.
Vietnamese authorities have been holding online sessions with the Nepalese side to identify solutions, including retrieving the containers.
The Nepalese minister promised to assist the Vietnamese businesses.
Nepal’s import ban isn’t applicable to batches with letters of credit opened before March 29. To re-export goods from the country, it is important that Nepalese importers must submit the necessary applications.
Most of the contracts signed by the 13 Vietnamese companies, however, do not have letters of credit, and over the last two months or more, Nepalese importers reportedly haven’t taken any necessary measures to help Vietnamese companies conduct re-export procedures.
The MoIT has been working with Vietnam’s trade office in India, which is also in charge of Nepal, and the VPA to continue persuading importers to coordinate with their Vietnamese partners to send the peppercorn home.
In early July, some Nepalese importers agreed to sign re-export applications and provide related documents.
Given this case, the MoIT recommended enterprises take measures to prevent risks when trading with South Asian markets like India and Nepal, including applying international trade practices like opening letters of credit./.
