Efforts to control and prevent smuggled sugar

	Quang Trị Customs seize 3 tons of smuggled sugar
	Dong Thap Customs seizes derelict smuggled sugar
	Dong Thap Customs seizes 1,350kg of smuggled sugar

The Customs Control Team - Dong Thap Customs Department counted the seized smuggled sugar products. Photo: T.H

Sugar imports decreased

According to Customs Units of the Southwest provinces, imported sugar through the Southwest border gates has recently decreased sharply.

Mr. Lam Tan Lap, Deputy Director of Tinh Bien Border Gate Customs Sub-department, An Giang Customs Department, said that sugar products are mainly imported through Tinh Bien border gate. From the end of 2022 until now, this imported product has decreased sharply. In the first 9 months of 2023, there will be only 1 batch of imported sugar, weighing about 200 tons (in the same period in 2022 over 67,000 tons were imported).

The reason is that, recently, Southwest border Customs units have strictly controlled imported sugar products according to the regulations in: Decision No. 477/QD-BCT dated February 9, 2021 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on applying temporary anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties on some cane sugar products originating from the Kingdom of Thailand; Decision No. 1514/QD-BCT dated August 1, 2022, of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on applying measures to prevent evasion of trade remedies for some cane sugar products; Apply measures to prevent evasion of trade remedies for some cane sugar products imported from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar; Official Dispatch 4261/TCHQ-TXNK dated August 16, 2023, of the General Department of Customs on implementing anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties on cane sugar products.

According to the leaders of Dong Thap Customs Department, in order to implement the above regulations, the unit directs border gate customs branches to strictly inspect, supervise and control cane sugar products; Maintain information collection and firmly grasp the situation of sugarcane import activities through border gates. Also according to the leaders of Dong Thap Customs Department, the situation of sugar smuggling activities in border communes has not increased over the same period; The subjects are mainly border residents who do not have stable jobs; The trick and method is still to gather goods close to the Cambodian border; Smugglers take advantage of the dark night, watch the road, follow the authorities, take advantage of loopholes and use motorboats with fast and powerful engines to transport goods across the border into Vietnam, then put on motorbikes or cars for small transport to the inland for sale, then handed over to dealers to collect for consumption.

Smuggled sugar still sneaks into the hinterland

According to the Vietnam Sugar Association (VSSA), in 2020-2021, the COVID-19 epidemic situation is complicated, the functional forces strictly control the border, and smuggled sugar across the border has decreased. However, from 2022, after the border control situation was relaxed due to the COVID-19 epidemic being controlled, the smuggled route has returned and up to now, the smuggled route has continued to prevail in the domestic market.

The phenomenon of Thai sugar flowing through Cambodia and Laos into Vietnam has also been recorded by reputable international organizations. Accordingly, in 2022, the GAIN report of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recorded this phenomenon, stating: that refined sugar exports from Thailand to Vietnam (accounting for about 30% of total white sugar and refined sugar exports) recorded a decrease of up to 71% in the 2020/21 crop year due to the Vietnamese Government imposing an anti-dumping tax of 47.64% on imported Thai sugar. However, exports of white and refined sugar to Cambodia and Laos in the 2020/21 crop year, with a combined market share of 32%, increased by 21% and 23% respectively and were then smuggled into Vietnam.

In 2023, the GAIN report also continues to record Thailand's sugar export situation, especially white sugar and refined sugar related to smuggled sugar into the Vietnamese market. The report stated: that white sugar and refined sugar exports from Thailand to Cambodia and Laos in the 2021/22 crop year are 1,087,895 tons, accounting for 34%, becoming Thailand's largest white and refined sugar export market, and the final destination of this huge amount of sugar is Vietnam.

Based on official data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the Thai Sugar Board (OCSB), VSSA estimates the amount of smuggled sugar in 2021 and 2022 to be 501,039 tons and 816,544 tons, respectively. From the beginning of the year until now, sugar smuggling activities have increased dramatically in the Southwest border areas. Many localities recorded very strong sugar smuggling activities, including An Giang Province (An Phu area), Tay Ninh Province; Long An Province (Binh Hiep area); Binh Phuoc; Kien Giang Province and Quang Tri Province (Route 9 Lao Bao).

In consumer markets, especially in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City, transportation and delivery are still done in the form of transferring from large transport vehicles to small transit vehicles overnight at parking lots located in suburban areas such as Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon district, district 12, Binh Duong province, etc. After transferring goods, traders can deliver goods directly to customers overnight, or collect them at their warehouses and locations of sale to transfer to 12kg paper bags, 12kg bags and to bags of domestic brands or to imported bags with previous documents for rotation, or to leave the whole bag for public retail delivery. From the beginning of 2023 to October 15, 2023, Ho Chi Minh City Market Surveillance Department discovered 35 cases of storing and trading sugar products and confiscated over 110 tons of sugar in violation.

Based on the assessment of the situation, and identification of legal shortcomings and loopholes that are being exploited by subjects, VSSA recommends:

Destroy all smuggled sugar - sugar packed in packaging produced in Thailand but without documents proving import and origin – which was confiscated (based on provisions in Section 3, Article 55 of the Law on Food Safety); terminate the auction to continue circulating sugar produced in Thailand but without documents proving import and origin (stipulated in clause i, section 5, Article 5 of the Food Safety Law).

Allow VSSA to participate in the mechanism to mobilize voluntary contributions from sugar production and trading enterprises to form a Fund to support costs for destroying confiscated smuggled sugar (similar to tobacco products).

With signs that the smuggled sugar originated from Thailand, after administrative handling, import tax was temporarily collected along with anti-dumping and countervailing duties of 47.64% and value-added tax of 5% in the waiting period for investigation with a proposed taxable value of 500 USD/ton, after that, the file must be transferred to the investigation agency to prosecute the criminal liability of the individuals and legal entities involved for the crime of smuggling.