The move is seen as a temporary self-defense measure in case theimports of these products increase too rapidly posing a threat to thedomestic production.
The vegetable oil subjected to the import levy belongs to trade codes of 1507.90.90, 1511.90.91, 1511.90.92 and 1511.90.99.
The decision will take effect on May 7, 2013 and last less than 200 days.
According to MoIT, the Ministry’s Competition AdministrationDepartment has carried inspections on the application of safeguardmeasures on these vegetable oils. The result showed that domesticproducts have similar quality as imported ones.
The Ministryreported that in 2010, the import volume of this commodity increased16.71 percent over 2009, and continued seeing year-on-year increases of23.95 percent and 45.83 percent in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
The rapid increase in the vegetable oil imports to Vietnam recently hasled to the sharp falls in domestic enterprises’ market share turnoverand profit, thus making enterprises suffer.-VNA