Ministry of Industry and Trade: aluminum consignment valued at US$4.3 billion will be investigated

	General Department of Vietnam Customs informed about the case of aluminum warehouse of $4.3 billion in Vung Tau
	Tens tonns of copper scrap is “under the cloak” of export aluminum
	Manage strictly exported copper and aluminum materials

A part of the aluminum warehouse related to the case. Photo: Tuoitre Ho Chi Minh online

The General Department of Vietnam Customs has talked about the case related to the coordination between Vietnam Customs andthe US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in closely supervising the aluminum consignment valued at US$4.3 billion of a company in Ba Ria-Vung Tau to prevent the risk of origin fraud when exporting to the US.

For this case, at the regular Government press conferenceon November 5, Mr. Cao Quoc Hung, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said that the Ministry checked the case and provided specific responses to the media.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said many people thought that this case had counterfeiting of origin, but in fact all consignments were eligible for being granted C/O, even meeting regulations of the importing country. However, the US Customs authority does not consider the case had fraud of counterfeiting of origin. It approaches the case in a different direction, specifically “anti-evasion”.

Vietnam can use extruded aluminum from many sources to produce aluminum products.When these products are sold in the US, they will be considered Vietnamese goods and enjoy a 15 percent tax. If using extruded aluminum of Chinese origin, even though the manufacturing process isidentical, it is still considered evasion and will be taxed as high as Chinese goods.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported the case to the Prime Minister and set up an inspection team including representatives of the General Department of Vietnam Customs to inspect relevant enterprises. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent an official dispatch to C/O issuers in Ba Ria- Vung Tau to instruct and request them to strengthen the C/O issuance for aluminum products.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also worked with the Ministry of Finance to direct the General Department of Vietnam Customs to strengthen supervision of abnormal fluctuations in aluminum import and export activities, and detect fraudulent acts (if any). The Ministry of Industry and Trade has received active coordination of customs forces. Thanks to coordination of all competent authorities, there has been no complicated situation.

For the C/O issuance, the Minister, Chairman of the Government Office, Government spokesman Mai Tien Dung said that the Prime Minister paid attention to this issue. If it is not handled well, it will cause great losses.While the value added is 30%, if the Vietnamese brand is used to take advantage of tax reduction, it will seriously affect the issue.

The Prime Minister has requested competent authorities issuing C/O at the Ministry of Industry and Trade and VCCI to facilitate import and export procedures when a trade war happens, but if easily issuing C/O without inspection, there will have great consequences and trade imbalance, leading to risks.

Therefore, Dung said that businesses must strictly implement. Competent authorities must consider and evaluate if the business invests in a workshop with US$1-2 million, it is not considered investment, so the Prime Minister required the Ministry of Industry and Trade to build the Resolution on combating trade and origin fraud.