Binh Phuoc Customs: Deploying activities to support enterprise to recover after pandemic

Supervising exported goods at Hoa Lu international border gate, Binh Phuoc. Photo: Nguyễn Huế

Proactive support

Binh Phuoc Customs Department said the revenue collection of the unit in the first months of 2020 was quite high compared to the same period because of the contribution of revenue source of importing machines and equipment creating fixed assets of CVP Food Company. Thanks to this revenue=, the revenue collection of Binh Phuoc Customs Department from the beginning of the year until now did not suffer a reduction although enterprises in the management area were also impacted by th Covid-19 pandemic. The production and business situation of enterprises has returned to normal, but the shortage of orders and difficulties in raw materials for production are still common, especially the activities of textile, footwear, and agricultural enterprises.

According to statistics of Binh Phuoc Customs Department, the impact of the Covid -19 pandemic is also one of the reasons causing declines in the number of declarations, import-export turnover and revenue of Binh Phuoc Customs Department in May compared with the previous month. Specifically, the number of declarations has decreased by more than 14% compared to the same period last year; import-export turnover decreased by nearly 7% (of that, import turnover decreased by 16% compared to the same period last year). Revenues in May decreased by 8% over the previous month.

To support enterprises, units in Binh Phuoc Customs Department have strengthened activities to support enterprises via telephone and direct contact. In May, Binh Phuoc Customs Department supported 49 enterprises with 76 contents. There were 63 times of support via telephone and 13 times of direct support.

“The Covid -19 pandemic has caused a great disturbance to business’ activities in the area, so business dialogue this year must also be innovative. Accordingly, besides business dialogue programmes organised by customs branches like every year, the department would organise a dialogue with businesses in the area to directly answer all problems and difficulties, supporting the import-export activities of enterprises,” the Director of Binh Phuoc Customs Department said.

To accompany the business

As the unit in charge of the largest number of enterprises of Binh Phuoc Customs Department, Chon Thanh Customs Branch assigns specific customs officials in the unit to follow activities of enterprises with various form of support such as via email and phone to grasp information from businesses, especially businesses related to countries facing the outbreak of the pandemic, to have timely guidance. Besides supporting enterprises via telephone, the Customs Branch also organised activities of direct contact with several enterprises with large import-export turnover in the area to record difficulties in import-export activities of enterprises due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as business plan of enterprises from now till the end of the year.

According to a representative of Chon Thanh Customs Branch, textile and footwear enterprises have faced difficulties in export orders to the US and EU due to Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, enterprises exporting cashew have faced difficulties in export orders to China. To support businesses, the Customs branch always works to implement cargo clearance for businesses as quickly as possible when goods arrive at the port to avoid storing and warehousing, and immediately solve for businesses when there is a problem.

On the support activities of the customs authority, Nguyen Pham Giang Minh, Head of Import-Export Division of VEGETEXCO, said despite facing many difficulties, the company has tried to promote export activities, with cashew a major contributor to import-export turnover of the agricultural sector. To achieve the above results, there was great support from Binh Phuoc Customs Department in timely removing difficulties and obstacles, supporting enterprises to implement cargo clearance quickly to ensure favourable conditions for production and business activities of enterprises.

Not only supporting enterprises in industrial parks, Binh Phuoc Customs Department is also appreciated by enterprises for supporting enterprises at border gates. According to Hoa Lu Customs Branch, from the beginning of the year until now, due to the Covid -19 pandemic, it affected enterprises in the area, so import-export activities through the border gate were limited.

However, the unit still arranged officials to regularly perform duty and coordinate with other units at the border to support businesses and implement measures to facilitate businesses to clear cargo while ensuring prevention of pandemics such as changing vehicle operators at buoy No.0, milestone No.69, perform steps to disinfect vehicles and goods. Therefore, even during social distancing, cargo clearance activities still operated normally.