Complex plant quarantine

Wait 3-4 days

According to a cashew exporting company, the cashew market situation is very gloomy, but businesses are facing difficulties and increased costs when bringing raw cashews to warehouses. Previously, when goods arrived at Cat Lai port (HCMC), businesses only needed to submit a quarantine registration form to the Plant Protection Department, and someone would come down to take samples, check, and then clear customs.

Since the beginning of 2023, the quarantine agency has announced the application of a new process of checking samples at the port and then clearing customs. According to regulations, goods are quarantined within 24 hours, but most of them last 3-4 days. Even if it falls on a Friday, holiday, or New Year, the time the goods "stay" at the port is 5-6 days, causing the cost of storing containers and yards to increase.

On the contrary, export goods must be inspected at the enterprise's warehouse before being brought to the port. According to Mr. Vu Thai Son, Chairman of the Binh Phuoc Cashew Association, Binh Phuoc province has dozens of factories, if the inspectors have to visit all the factories, it will be very time-consuming. Binh Phuoc province is under the responsibility of the Plant Quarantine Department of Region 2 (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), but due to lack of human resources, it has authorized the Plant Quarantine at Hoa Lu border gate to take samples for export shipments of cashew nuts. However, the Plant Quarantine at Hoa Lu border gate is also very far from the area with many enterprises and does not have enough human resources to do it in time.

Previously, for export, businesses were required by partners to inspect the quality, to see if there were termites or insects in the products, from independent units such as Vinacontrol, Cafecontrol, SGS, BV... According to the process, these units randomly sampled at least 10% of the shipment, then analyzed and inspected the samples. Importers only paid for the order when there was a certificate of sampling from an independent certification unit.

“Thus, only one inspection by the importing unit is enough. Having two inspection units for one shipment is unnecessary and very wasteful,” said Mr. Vu Thai Son.

In the same situation, many businesses importing raw wood are also in the situation of having to wait for quarantine at the port. Each shipment of wood usually has many containers, so the longer the time at the port, the higher the production costs of the business.

Consider removing quarantine on some items

Speaking to SGGP Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Vu Phi Long, Head of the Plant Quarantine Sub-Department of Region 2, said that according to the Law on Plant Protection and Quarantine, the Law on Food Safety, Circular 33/2014 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, imported plant products must be quarantined at the port first. Because in the past, the weather had not changed abnormally, so harmful organisms in imported goods were not "strong enough" to spread strongly but often "stayed" in containers, so the sub-department created conditions for businesses to bring the goods to the warehouse and then check them later.

Currently, harmful organisms mixed in imported goods can spread at any time, so quarantine is required at the port. The Plant Quarantine Sub-Department of Region 2 is in charge of 13 provinces, with 70% of the import and export volume of goods in the Southern region. At the port, an average employee inspects and samples over 30 shipments per day. However, if the goods are in a bonded warehouse, the employee can only handle 1 shipment per day. Not to mention, the department's staff has also been cut.

According to Mr. Nguyen Vu Phi Long, on the management software, there has not been any shipment that has been sampled for more than 24 hours, except for shipments lacking documents. On the other hand, when arriving at the port, shipments often have to wait for the port's loading and unloading team to bring them to the quarantine agency for receipt. The loading and unloading service is not under the authority of the quarantine agency but is managed by the port.

Quarantine staff check at an agricultural warehouse before export.

Quarantine staff work on weekends, holidays and Tet to meet the needs of businesses. However, businesses with goods arriving on days before holidays and weekends need to notify the department to arrange personnel including leaders, officers, office staff, etc. to ensure the issuance of certificates.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Le Son Ha, Head of Plant Quarantine Department (Plant Protection Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), if harmful organisms are detected when products are brought to the warehouse, it will cost the business money to destroy them. Some countries require no quarantine from units such as Vinacontrol, Cafecontrol, SGS, BV... Therefore, agricultural product exporting units need to learn about the regulations of the importing country to avoid wasting quarantine without any effect.

In addition, the certification units only record termites, while the Plant Protection Department also checks for prohibited organisms according to the list of countries and the list of Vietnam. For processed cashew nuts, the risk of pest infection is very low, almost non-existent, so the current quarantine process is unnecessary. The Plant Protection Department will consider proposing that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development remove semi-processed cashew nuts and some other agricultural export products from the list of mandatory quarantine if there is no risk, in order to create favorable conditions for businesses.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nhieu-khe-kiem-dich-thuc-vat-post712679.html