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Vietnam rubber, plastics firm struggle to compete with cheap chinese goods

The head of the Ho Chi Minh City Rubber Plastic Manufacturer Association, Nguyen Quoc Anh, has told Tuoi Tre that rubber and plastics producers are struggling to compete with cheap Chinese goods. Nguyen said that imported rubber, chemicals, and plastics for local firms are subject to value-added tax when they enter Vietnam but securing a VAT tax refund is difficult.

This is noteworthy in that a lot of the focus with respect to cheap Chinese imports has been on the fact that low value goods are exempt from Vietnam’s Value-added Tax. In this context, applying VAT to these low cost imports has been floated as one way to level the playing field. However, it seems that what Nguyen is saying is that it doesn’t even necessarily need to go that far but rather a simplification of VAT refund procedures and processes could help local firms in the first instance.

See also: Vietnam Special Consumption Tax

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