Vietnam proposes to lift import duties on polypropylene

It is reported that the Vietnamese Finance Ministry has received several petitions from local companies to adjust the import duties imposed on propane and polypropylene. The Ministry thereafter proposed its plans for the import duties on the mentioned products.

For propane, with HS code 2711.12.00, the petition called for a reduction from the current 2% to 0%. However, the Ministry informed that the existing local supply can fulfill up to 45% of the domestic demand and that the duties have been adjusted from 5% to 2% on 1 January 2018, therefore, no changes would be made for the time being.

Meanwhile, by 2020, Vietnam would have three PP producers with a total output of approximately 850,000 tons per annum, meeting about 71% of domestic consumption. To encourage local companies to use locally produced cargoes and reduce the dependency on import materials, the Ministry proposed to increase the import duties from 3% currently to 5% in 2020.

However, the Ministry has yet to issue any official circular while continue collecting feedback from the industry.