Manipulation of pepper market is internal information, VPA does not need to support

Through the synthesis of reports from the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) and the Departments of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Trade found that there was no evidence to conclude that foreign traders were manipulating the pepper market in Vietnam. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with the Departments of Industry and Trade to continue monitoring closely.

When Vietnamese businesses find it necessary, the VPA will send a formal dispatch asking the State to intervene and assist.

On the afternoon of 16th August 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Trade released information about foreign traders manipulating the pepper market in Vietnam.

According to this agency, after finding out information and synthesizing reports of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) and the Departments of Industry and Trade of key provinces in the country, the Ministry of Industry and Trade found this information from the VPA’s website.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed VPA to provide a specific list of businesses that have been affected by the risk involved in dealing with foreign traders.

However, in document 38 / HTVN-CV dated 10th August sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, VPA said: "There are no resources and no specific list of affected businesses. This concept has not been mentioned in the rules of sale, businesses can not share information about the partners that they usually exchange”.

According to the above documents of VPA, the information is on the "internal" website of VPA, which is "warning and sharing information among the VPA’s members", thereby supporting each other to reduce risks in business. VPA expects these activities to "stop" and "when things get worse and Vietnamese businesses find it necessary, we will send a formal dispatch asking the State to intervene and assist".

Based on the reports of the VPA and the Departments of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Trade found that there was not enough basis to conclude that foreign traders were manipulating the pepper market in Vietnam. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with the Departments of Industry and Trade to monitor to ensure a healthy, fair and legal business environment for pepper in particular and agricultural products in general.

Earlier, on the VPA’s website, there was information of some VPA’s member enterprises that a group of Chinese enterprises had been controlling the pepper market of Vietnam in recent days.

Specifically, in some pepper export companies, there was a phenomenon that Chinese enterprises met pepper exporters of Vietnam to order pepper. It is unusual that Vietnamese companies are willing to buy and ask for a contract.

After that, they rented a hotel near the headquarters of the export company and came to the company every day to push for the contract. Traditionally, after 3 days from the date of signing the contract, they must transfer the deposit but they have not transferred within 3 days and will insist that they will buy and explain the reason for late payment to delay the performance of the contract.

"They have done with many export companies to create a signal that the market is in need of large quantities", the VPA’s website revealed.