The consignment of 351 containers of Vietnamese rice in transit at Kota Kinabalu port on their way to Luaban port to export to the Philippines and Hong Kong (China) have been sequestered by the customs division at the former port for over four months with unclear reason.

The consignment supplied by seven Vietnamese firms totals 8,776 tons of rice.

Relevant sides comprising sellers, buyers, shipping line and the customs division at Kota Kinabalu port have worked together. Still they have neither determined the official cause nor had feasible measure for the issue.

At the end of January 2019, Vietnam Food Association (VFA) sent a document proposing Sabah Cross-Border Traders Association in Malaysia to work with relevant agencies in Kota Kinabalu city to soon clear the issue so that the consignment can continue moving to Luaban port in the free trade zone of Malaysia as soon as possible.

Vietnamese businesses have met lots of difficulties for not delivering goods to Luaban for buyers in time and suffered goods damage. They might face trade complaints. This seriously affects the trade relationship between Vietnam and Malaysia and their business communities.

Explaining for the sequester of the rice consignment in Sabah News Today, the Sabah Customs Department said that the rice containers kept in Sepanggar were suspected for smuggling purpose. However the sellers have registered to enter Kota Kinabalu port since September 24, 2018 but the port customs agency has refused.

Kota Kinabalu is the capital of Malaysia’s Sabah and Sepanggar is a sub-district of the capital.

For the last many years, Vietnam’s commercial rice export output to Malaysian market has maintained stable at about 400,000 tons a year.

Businesses are looking forward to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s move to interfere in the case and solve difficulties for them.

SGGP