On March 23, the government decided to stop rice exports as proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) to ensure food security during the pandemic.

On March 24, customs agencies stopped the customs clearance for all rice export shipments.

Later that day, MOIT unexpectedly asked the Prime Minister to allow resumption of rice exports.

Explaining the decision, MOIT said "there was a difference in statistics about stockpile and it was necessary to recalculate the total rice output".

The confusion of the state management agency can also be seen in the fact that the ministry also proposed stopping exporting sticky rice, though sticky rice is not a product for the national reserve.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of rice in enterprises’ storehouses cannot be exported because of inconsistent policies.

As a result, enterprises could not export sticky rice, despite the large inventory volume in An Giang and Long An provinces, 56,000 tons and VND152,000 tons, respectively.

After local authorities and rice exporters complained about this, MOIT asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) if sticky rice is among the product items for national reserve, and asked for the Ministry of Finance’s (MOF) opinion.

MOF affirmed that it expressed its opinions twice, on April 3 and April 30, but the opinions were ignored by MOIT.

MOF said it then suggested allowing export of sticky rice because it is not a product for the national reserve. It also suggested stopping the export of ordinary rice to ensure that the government can buy enough ordinary rice for the national reserve.

Talking to VnExpress on April 18 about MOF’s explanations, MOIT Minister Tran Tuan Anh said the "suggestions are unreasonable". The opinions from ministries and branches were collected by MOIT and forwarded to the Prime Minister in MOIT’s report on April 6.

The General Department of Customs (GDC) also complained about the issue.

On March 24, when rice was carried to ports and exporters prepared to make customs declarations for exports, they were informed about the decision on rice export suspension.

On April 10, the Prime Minister agreed to resume rice exports and allowed 400,000 tons in April. On April 11 (Saturday), rice exporters were waiting to register rice exports, but GDC’s VNACCS system (Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance System) did not work.

At 0am on April 12 (Saturday), the system was unexpectedly opened without public announcement. Six hours later, the system was closed again and rice exporters were informed that 400,000 tons had been cleared, which meant that other exporters would have no more opportunities to export rice in April.

Thanh Lich 

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