According to the Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is gathering opinions of businesses before zeroing export duty on rubber.
On July 1, MOF issued Official Letter No. 8881, to gather opinions on reduction of current export duty rate of 1 percent on three rubber export items (latex, mixed and crepe rubber) to zero percent as a support for local rubber producers to overcome sharply decreasing rubber prices (VND 40 million/ton against the peak of VND 60 million/ton in 2011) and improve export competitiveness on the regional market.
In 2011, when the rubber prices reached the peak, MOF imposed an export duty rate of 3-5 percent. In the beginning of 2013, VRA proposed MOF to cut the export duty on rubber but received disapproval.
Due to a continuous decline in the rubber export market and prices, in November 2013, MOF issued Circular No. 157/2013/TT-BTC to down export duty on the above rubber items (under headings 40.01, 40.02 and 40.05) to 1 percent.-
