March 20, 2009
Vietnam increases meat import taxes
Vietnam's Ministry of Finance (MOF) has decided to raise import taxes of some kinds of meat which will take effective from March 20, 2009, according to local news reports on Thursday (Mar 19).
Accordingly, import tax on frozen pork and meat will be raised from 24 percent to 28 percent and tax on frozen and fresh beef will be hiked from 17 percent to 33 percent.
Meanwhile, imported frozen by-products of pig, cow, and other meats will be levied from 10 percent to 15 percent.
This tariff hike is the second for meat and poultry products in recent months. MOF first increased the rate by roughly 2 percent in October last year.
Domestic production was previously unable to meet local demand, resulting in reductions of import tariffs on meat and poultry products prior to the deadline set by the World Trade Organisation.
According to breeders, their products could not compete with imported ones that had saturated the country due to low import taxes.
MOF has also cut import taxes on dried vegetables used as animal feed from 13 percent to 10 percent.
MOF also decided to exempt import taxes on whey, a product used in the dairy and food production industry, previously imposed with a 2 percent tax.
