VietNamNet Bridge – Enterprises in several localities will be allowed to continue exporting unprocessed minerals under a decision issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

A mine operated by the Vinacomin Group. Exports of several types of minerals will be temporarily extended.

According to the MoIT, the decision is a temporary measure to help enterprises settle their inventories and raise capital to have more resources for further development.

It will apply only to certain minerals that have been in surplus stock in 2012, and their exports will be managed strictly, a recent Dau Tu newspaper report cited the MoIT as saying.

In a document issued on January 24, the trade ministry permitted enterprises in the northern central province of Nghe An to export 214,000 tonnes of iron ore and 120,000 tonnes of manganese ore in stock, equivalent to 50 per cent of the volume proposed by local firms.

Provinces in the northern mountainous region are allowed to export 213,000 tonnes of pure iron ore and magnetite ore, 29,500 tonnes of pure manganese ore and 450,000 tonnes of apatite.

Earlier, the trade ministry also decided to allow the Viet Nam Coal and Minerals Industries Group (Vinacomin) to resume export of coal dust in the first and second quarter of 2013.

According to Vinacomin, as of December 2012 the volume of coal dust in stock with the group was 1.4 million tonnes.

Large inventories have piled up at mineral exploitation enterprises because they have not made due investments in processing, industry insiders say.

For a long-term solution to the inventory problem, the Government needs to issue regulations forcing enterprises to intensify investments in mineral processing, they add.

Early in 2012, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued a directive (No 02/CT-TTg) with regulations that aimed to strengthen state management of exploration, exploitation, processing, use and export of raw minerals.

The directive banned localities from exporting lead or pure lead ore, zinc and pure zinc ore, and manganese and pure manganese ore.

Source: VNS