Leaders of Binh Phuoc Customs Department talk to enterprises at the conference. Photo: N.H

The Director of Binh Phuoc Customs Department affirmed this clearly at the business dialogue in 2022, with the topic “Answering about policies, customs procedures and removing difficulties in the import-export of cashew” held on June 28.

Director Nguyen Van Lich said that Binh Phuoc province is currently the capital of cashew trees. However, the operation of cashew businesses in there was spontaneous with many small businesses. The buying and selling activities of imported cashew took place eventfully causing many difficulties in the management of Customs authority. Therefore, Lich said that Binh Phuoc should establish a bonded warehouse for cashew to improve the management efficiency of Customs. At the same time, facilitates businesses and avoids risks of the sale of raw materials.

Relating the opinion of Director Nguyen Van Lich, Mr. Phung Van Sam, Director of Hansimex Binh Phuoc Company, evaluated that it was a very good idea. The reason was that Binh Phuoc was the cradle of world cashew production, but there was no bonded warehouse for cashew products in Binh Phuoc.

“Not all businesses can afford to buy raw materials at the beginning of the crop. If there is a bonded warehouse in Binh Phuoc, small businesses can also buy materials little by little depending on their financial ability to put raw material into processing,” Sam said.

Sam called on businesses to jointly invest in bonded warehouses to create a foundation for the sustainable development of the cashew industry in the future.

The Director of Binh Phuoc Customs Department said that from the end of 2021, Binh Phuoc Customs Department has issued a decision to review the operation of cashew enterprises in the area. It has been classified into three groups of enterprises: the group of enterprises that well comply with the provisions of law; the group of enterprises that do not clearly understand the regulations, leading to making some mistakes; groups of enterprises that take advantage of preferential policies of the State, loopholes in the law to make a profit. Accordingly, Director Nguyen Van Lich signed three decisions to prosecute for the act of smuggling cashew nuts.

Presenting on general information about the cashew industry in Binh Phuoc, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Duyen, Deputy Head of the Technical Division - Binh Phuoc Customs Department, said that the cashew industry currently contributes one-third of the GDP of Binh Phuoc province. There are more than 200 enterprises operating import and export cashew.

Raw cashew materials of enterprises operating in cashew import and export business in Binh Phuoc province are originated from foreign import, domestic trading and self-supply sources. Accordingly, businesses in Binh Phuoc province currently account for nearly 50% of all raw cashew imports and over 40% of the country's kernel exports.

Through reviewing the operation of cashew businesses in the area, Binh Phuoc Customs Department has found a number of risks. For example, in terms of the management model, most businesses are managed by turnover and have not applied management software.

Besides that, the human resources for accounting, import and export of enterprises are still limited. In many cases one person concurrently holds many jobs, leading to low working efficiency, which easily leads to errors.

The domestic production of raw cashew nuts does not meet demand, so businesses are always passive in the supply of raw materials, depending on imported materials. Enterprises are also limited in access to foreign markets. In many cases, businesses are scammed when foreign partners deliver goods that are incorrect as committed.

Accordingly, a number of common violations that are often committed include; incorrect declaration of goods name, origin, unit of measurement, code of the type of export shipment of cashew kernels; incorrect declaration of quantity and value compared with the actual import of some imported goods; providing documents that do not conform to the request of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for granting C/O certificates.

In many cases, enterprises change the purpose of using imported materials without declaring them to the Customs; the inventory of imported goods is less than the actual quantity as declared due to poor management of imported raw materials.

From the above fact, the representative of Binh Phuoc Customs Department recommended that businesses needed to have specialized personnel to in charge of import and export activities in order to ensure law compliance in the Customs field. The implementation of regulations on imports and exports will be standardized, avoiding the risk of errors. In addition, leaders of the enterprises also needed to learn and understand the regulations so that they can control and correct timely when arising errors.