Imported sugar drops, An Giang Customs facing difficulties in budget collection

	Strengthen inspection and supervision of imported sugar
	Vietnamese sugarcane needs specific policy to rebound
	Imported sugar dominates the market

Customs officers of Khanh Binh border Customs Branch guide enterprises. Photo: T.H

Budget collection facing difficulties

Speaking about the situation of importing goods through Tinh Bien international border gate, Deputy Director of Tinh Bien international border gate Customs Branch (An Giang Customs Department) Le Huu Phuoc said that in 2022, most of the unit's revenue came from imported cane sugar.

However, since the implementation of Decision No. 1514/QD-BCT dated August 1, 2022 of the Minister of Industry and Trade on the application of measures to prevent evasion of trade remedies for some cane sugar products, the import of this item through border gates in An Giang province, mainly Tinh Bien international border gate, declined.

According to An Giang Customs Department, in 2023, the Ministry of Finance assigned an estimate of state budget revenue of VND 410 billion to the unit, lower than the 2022 estimate (VND450 billion) but from the beginning of 2023, the unit has predicted that the budget collection this year will face many difficulties and is not feasible due to the change in import policy of some commodities, namely sugar. This is one of the items bringing in great revenue for An Giang Customs Department in 2022.

In the first four months of 2023, An Giang Customs Department processed nearly 9,700 import-export customs declarations of over 290 enterprises, down 2%, with the total official import-export turnover of US$518.436 million, down 21% year-on-year. In addition, An Giang Customs processed export customs declarations registered at other customs units, but goods actually exported through border gates in An Giang province reached US$558.47 million, up 5%; the volume of goods in transit reached 78,216 tons, down 29% year-on-year.

The decrease in imports, including imported cane sugar products, have led to a drop in the revenue of the Customs Department. From the beginning of 2023 to April 12, 2023, An Giang Customs collected VND91.57 billion, reaching 22% of the estimate, down 34% compared to the same period last year. Other revenues arise from items such as scraps, pesticides, agricultural machinery, construction sand, and garment materials.

Defining the budget collection task as the most important political task, to fulfill the set target, from the beginning of the year, An Giang Customs has actively developed the implementation plan to units, strictly followed the directives of the General Department of Customs in Directive No. 479/CT-TCHQ dated February 7, 2023 on comprehensively implementing trade facilitation solutions, improved the effectiveness of State management, fighting against revenue loss in budget task in 2023, and assigned ambitious targets for budget revenue to each affiliated customs branch.

Facilitating cross-border goods

With the characteristics of both carrying out procedures for import-export businesses and carrying out procedures for goods of border residents, border-gate customs branches under An Giang Customs Department have focused on trade facilitation for goods and vehicles across the border.

Recently, following Official Letter No. 1790/TCHQ-GSQL dated April 17, 2023 of the General Department of Customs guiding the implementation of declaration, receipt, inspection and confirmation of the e-manifest for imported goods, the border gate customs branches have given specific instructions to businesses.

Accordingly, from April 20, 2023, the truck owner or truck driver, the person authorized by the truck owner (the goods owner or the authorized customs agent) make an e-manifest for imported goods before bringing goods into the territory of Vietnam according to the unique information standards through the electronic system, which has facilitated businesses to make the declaration at all times, anywhere, thereby saving time and costs.

In addition to the synchronous and drastic implementation of solutions to facilitate trade, improve the effectiveness of state management, and prevent revenue loss in the state budget collection task in 2023, An Giang Customs Department has followed, monitored and analyze the situation of budget collection, the fluctuation of official trade turnover of specific commodity groups to have solutions to urge the branches to work with businesses as well as to promptly propose and report to the General Department of Customs on appropriate plans to fulfil the assigned revenue target; reviewed the classification of debt groups, regularly monitored, urged and handled tax debts, and developed appropriate solutions as prescribed by law for each group of debts in accordance with the guidance at the management process of tax debt and other revenues for exported and imported goods issued together with Decision No. 2317/QD-TCHQ dated October 24, 2022 of the General Department of Customs, to prevent overdue tax debt in 2023.

An Giang Customs: Peak of anti-smuggling at the end of the year

Along with the facilitation work, the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, and illegal cross-border transportation of goods has been also focused on by units under An Giang Customs Department. In particular, the customs units have strengthened inspection, control and supervision of goods in transit, goods temporarily imported for re-export, goods stored in bonded warehouses, etc., to prevent loss of budget revenue and create a fair environment for businesses.