Pham Minh Thien, director of Dong Thap-based Co May Private Enterprise, contacted his legal department to ask about the new decision made by MOIT soon after hearing about the ‘good news’.

 

“I was told that MOIT still has not removed all the business conditions that put difficulties for rice exporters. However, this is still a laudable decision,” he said.

 

Co May Company sells its branded rice at Singaporean supermarkets. However, since it doesn’t have license for export, the company has to ‘take a roundabout’ by setting up a subsidiary in Singapore to bring Co May branded rice to the country.

 

“We have just refused a client from Africa also because we don’t have a license for export,” Thien complained.

 

Under Decision No 6139 issued in 2013, the number of rice exporters must be no more than 150, while rice exporters must meet a lot of requirements in storage, factories and husking capacity. And the mechanism has been removed by MOIT’s decision.

 

Under Decision No 6139 issued in 2013, the number of rice exporters must be no more than 150, while rice exporters must meet a lot of requirements in storage, factories and husking capacity. And the mechanism has been removed by MOIT’s decision.

This could be the first step for the government to consider removing unreasonable business conditions stipulated in Decree No 109 on rice export management. “I believe that if barriers are removed, Vietnam’s rice will see a boom in the world market like catfish,” he said.

 

Huynh Cong Nang, general director of Vinafood 2, the largest rice exporter, also commented that this is a good move in the context of the competitive market.

 

“A breakthrough made by the Minister of Industry and Trade, which shows the role of a ‘constructive government’,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nhung, president of Phuoc Thanh Bay Map Production & Trade Company, still wants the government to continue removing existing barriers to businesses.

 

Nhung complained that her company has many years’ experience in doing trade with the US market, but she just had to stop exports because the export license had expired.

 

“While some other rice exporters cannot export rice because their products are refused by importers, we cannot export just because we don’t have a license,” she said.

 

Nhung cannot obtain the export license because she cannot satisfy requirements on the storage capacity and husking machines. She will have to spend VND400-500 billion to satisfy the requirements.

 

According to Nguyen Van Don, director of Tien Giang-based Viet Hung Company, no need for the state to worry that the market would be chaotic once the requirements on material area, storage and processing capacity are removed, because the positions in the market have been cemented.

 

In related news, China has licensed 22 Vietnamese companies to export rice to the market.