The move was made following a proposal from thecountry’s largest coal producer, Vinacomin. The group asked theGovernment to revoke a July hike in export tariffs, saying this had madea disastrous impact on its business.
According to the group, sincethe Government raised coal-export tax from 10 percent to 13 percent inJuly, its coal export volume has dropped to only 120,000 tonnes a month,only a tenth of the previous amount. The group said the rise intariffs meant that export prices had to increase significantly.
Taxesand fees now make up 30 percent of the production cost of export coal,and 20 percent of coal sold to domestic customers.
The Industry andTrade Ministry also reported that coal export in July fell by 91 percentin volume and 80 percent in value compared to June. Coal export in thefirst seven months of this year reached 7.8 million tonnes, grossing561.4 million USD.
Due to the low demand, the group estimates it hadstockpiled about 7.9 million tonnes of coal at the end of August.Vinacomin said it expects to sell about 2.9 million tonnes of coal thismonth while producing 3.2 million tonnes.-VNA