HANOI, April 5 Asia Pulse - In line with a comprehensive government initative to stimulate trade between the two nations, the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has offered credit quotas to its Russian counterpart to facilitate bilateral trade payments.

The credit quotas will allow Russian businesses to import Vietnamese goods without depositing money at the banks, as they previously had to when they opened Letters of Credit (L/C).

Vietcombank (VCB) says it will grant $80-100 million worth of credit quotas to Russian commercial banks over the course of the year.

"The VCB and Russian bankers are discussing which commodities and areas should be prioritised and given credit quotas," said VCB deputy director-general Nguyen Thu Ha.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade is exploring other measures to encourage trade between the two countries, including more trade promotion and marketing, and cuts to tariffs and export taxes.

The domestic footwear, interior decoration and oil and gas sectors have also expressed an interest in exporting products to Russia, as part of a deal to help pay off national debt owed to the Russian Government.

Two-way trade between the two countries has certainly seen better times. In 1995 the bilateral trade value was more than US$1 billion a year, a figure which slumped to $363 million in 2000.

Traditional Vietnamese bamboo and rattan articles, once very popular in Russia, have now almost disappeared from the Russian market.

Analysts have argued that the failure to reach an agreement on payment methods and tariff barriers is to blame for this dramatic slide in trade value.

But the Ministry of Trade says there is great potential for the two countries to do business.

Vietnam can export to Russia such products as rice, rubber, tea, processed vegetables and fruit. Russia, meanwhile, could sell Vietnam fertilisers, non-ferrous metals, steel ingots, transport means and energy equipment.

"We are negotiating with our Russian counterparts to develop a bilateral free trade agreement, and things are moving in the right direction," said one MoT official.

"Since March 15, Vietnam's exports to and imports from Russia have enjoyed a preferential tax policy."

VNA

Asia Pulse 05.04.2001

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The Tea Board, Kolkata, has urged all tea auctions committees, tea brokers and tea producers' associations in the state not to allow the sale of tea produced by manufacturers not registered with the Board through auction.

The Board has observed that the produce of several tea manufacturers not registered with the Tea board are being allowed to be sold through the auction centers.

The chairman of the Board, Mr. N.K. Das has said that under the provisions of the Tea Waste Control Order, 1955, all tea manufacturers are required to obtain a tea waste license from the Board and to dispose of their tea waste in manner prescribed in the Order.

The Statesman 05.04.2001

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JAKARTA, April 4 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian government has said it will drop the 10 per cent value-added tax (VAT) on agriculture products because they are needed to support national economic activities.

Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said that animal feed and raw materials for animal feed are also now exempt.

The government earlier issued a circular advising a 10 per cent VAT imposed on agricultural, husbandry and fishery products as of January 2001.

Products subject to the tax included coffee and cocoa beans, tea, pepper, sugarcane, oil palm fresh fruit bunches.

However, some staple products such as rice, corn, soybeans and salt were exempt.

The plan was also opposed by Agriculture Minister Bungaran Saragih as it will put more burden on local farmers. (ANTARA)

Asia Pulse(04/04/2001)

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NEW DELHI, April 3 Asia Pulse - The federal government on Monday listed the measures taken to safeguard Indian agriculture in the post-quantitative restrictions [QRs] era and gave the details of current negotiations under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture [AoA].

Published in the form of a booklet, a series of measures taken by the federal government to safeguard the interests of Indian agriculture have been listed, including imposition of quality standards and customs duty.

The booklet mentions that the import duty on numerous items have been increased, including areca nut- from 35 per cent to 100 per cent, on wheat from zero to 50 per cent, skimmed milk powder - zero to 60 per cent (for imports beyond the tariff rate quota [TRQ] of 10,000 tonnes), on rice from zero to 70 per cent and sugar 27.5 to 60 per cent.

Customs duty on tea, coffee, copra and coconut has been increased to 70 per cent from 35 per cent.

On crude edible oils, which ranged between 35 per cent to 55 per cent, the duty had been increased to a uniform rate of 75 per cent, except soyabean oil.

Duty on refined oils, which ranged from 45 per cent to 65 per cent, had been hiked to 85 per cent. Customs duty had also been enhanced on import of crude palm oil [CPO] by vanaspati manufacturers to 75 per cent from 25 per cent.

However, sick vanaspati units would pay 55 per cent duty on CPO.

Countervailing customs duty equivalent to state excise duty would be levied on imported alcoholic beverages.

(PTI)

Asia Pulse(03/04/2001)

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