VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam needed to carefully plan its tobacco distribution network to strengthen Government oversight of the product and reduce its harmful impacts, a Ministry of Industry and Trade official has said.

A shop selling cigarettes on Tran Binh Trong Street in Ha Noi. The nation has been told it needs to strictly control distribution of tobacco to reduce its harmful effects. (Photo: VNS)
Vu Anh Son, deputy director of the ministry's Compliance Department, said trade in tobacco involved the import and wholesale and retail distribution of tobacco which occurred in every corner of the country.

"Every locality needs to define the tobacco purchase network and manage it," he said.

For licensing of tobacco trading, conditions should be imposed on sellers, sales locations, finance and infrastructure, and distribution network, he said.

Imports should strictly comply with trade regulations, he said.

Tobacco trading is controlled internationally by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Nguyen Van De, deputy general secretary of the Viet Nam Tobacco Association, said there were 520 businesses involved in wholesale purchase of tobacco and 10,500 retail sellers.

Of the sellers, 116 did business in two or more provinces, he said.

In Viet Nam, 60 per cent of tobacco users live in rural areas.

De recommended to issue standards for cigarettes, tobacco shops, and warehousing to enable the association to manage the purchase of tobacco.

It was necessary to have an information campaign to raise sellers' awareness of regulations, he added.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is proposing plans for a tobacco purchasing network aimed at reorganising the network in an orderly and effective manner.

Tran Quoc Toan, a division head in the ministry's Domestic Market Department and one of the plan's drafters, said planning would help the Government control the volume of tobacco supplied to the market as well as consumption.

"Controlling wholesale purchase of tobacco will lead to better control over retail sales of the products," he said, adding that the final aspect would be smoking management.

Son said smoking was evidently harmful and the country's progress in controlling tobacco purchases was a good sign.

To solicit suggestions for the plan, the Domestic Market Department and the EU-Viet Nam Multilateral Trade Assistance Project (MUTRAP III) organised a workshop in HCM City yesterday.

Two more workshops will be held later this week in central Khanh Hoa Province and next week in Ha Noi for businesses in the central and northern regions.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News