Vietnam Customs destroyed nearly 1 million packs of cigarettes seized by An Giang anti-smuggling forces under the suspicion of the packages having been smuggled, the state-run CustomsNews reported April 20. In the first quarter of 2022, anti-smuggling authorities captured 14,555 packs of foreign cigarettes, the report said. In a separate notice, CustomsNews said the Dong Thap Customs and Police Force seized 1,400 packs of cigarettes in the Hong Ngu District on April 12. The cigarettes were hidden inside four plastic bags and transported by a man who fled the scene.
Japan on April 20 officially enacted a law to revoke Russia’s most favored nation trade status, the Associated Press reported. The change, which takes effect later this month, will allow Japan to impose higher duties on most imports from Russia but will not affect imports of oil and liquefied natural gas, the report said.
India is seeking to boost its global wheat exports to fill the gap left by Russia and Ukraine due to the war in Ukraine (see 2204080037), Bloomberg reported April 19. India recently won approval from Egypt, the world's top wheat buyer, to sell to the country, the report said, adding that India is "eyeing" a record 15 million tons of wheat exports this year. Other buyers are concerned with the quality of Indian wheat, the report said. Egypt has imposed quality controls, requiring importers to submit an inspection request for Indian wheat before it's shipped out, Bloomberg said.
Vietnam is prosecuting 11 Dai Minh Viet Inspection Co. executives and employees for submitting over 1,200 fraudulent certificates of inspection of imported goods used to allegedly smuggle 1,282 containers of second-hand machinery and equipment from Japan and Taiwan, the state-run CustomsNews reported April 17. The alleged scheme was discovered by the Saigon Port Zone 1 Customs Branch and the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department's Economic Policy Division, CustomsNews said. During the investigation, the police agency determined that Hoang Duy Tien, an officer of the Anti-Smuggling Team under the Economic Police Department of the HCM City Public Security, was the mastermind who established dozens of legal entities, named on customs declarations to import used goods to Vietnam.
Russia temporarily increased its export quotas for mineral fertilizers by nearly 700,000 tons until May 31, the Russian Foreign Ministry said April 17, according to an unofficial translation. The quota for nitrogen fertilizers was upped by 231,000 tons to total about 5.7 million tons. The quota for complex fertilizers rose by 466,000 to about 5.6 million tons. The Foreign Ministry said the quotas don't apply to fertilizers to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine or to Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the South Caucasus. The move was made to support Russian fertilizer suppliers facing global sanctions, the ministry said.
India recently rescinded its 10% import duty on cotton until Sept. 30 to support the textile sector, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in an April 15 report. Indian supplies are more expensive than certain textile goods from foreign competitors, the agency said, prompting the country to rescind the import tax until the end of the Indian cotton marketing year. The U.S., Egypt and Israel are “major suppliers of “Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton” to India.
Taiwan recently issued a list of items restricted from being exported to Russia. The list, which took effect April 6, includes dual-use technologies, electronics, sensors and lasers, telecommunication goods, aerospace items and other sensitive products that require a license before they can be shipped to Russia, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said, according to an unofficial translation.
Vietnam’s new rules of origin under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership took effect this month, allowing Vietnamese exports to RCEP countries to benefit from preferential tariffs, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported April 8. RCEP goods imported into Vietnam will also benefit from low tariffs when they are accompanied with a certificate of origin, HKTDC said, and importers must submit that proof of origin to the country’s customs authority, with some exemptions.
The Singapore Customs TradeNet will undergo extended system maintenance April 24 4 a.m. to noon local time, it said April 8. Singapore Customs advises users to avoid submitting applications during this time. This is in addition to the usual 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday maintenance.
Singapore launched a trial period for the Traders' Self-Declaration Sandbox, which will allow traders to declare TradeNet permits for goods imported into or exported out of Singapore, Singapore Customs announced April 11. Under the program, only certain types of permits will be allowed to be submitted, including In-Payment GST, In-Non-Payment Approved Premises / Schemes and Out Direct. Permits for strategic and dutiable goods including tobacco and liquor cannot be declared this way.