The Wood and Forest Products Association (Viforest) said that after many years of continuous rapid growth, export sales of wood and wood products reached just US$4.7 billion in the first five months of 2023, down almost 30% in the Year-on-year comparison corresponds to .same period in 2022. In particular, wood products for deep processing under HS code 94 decreased by up to 38%…

BIG ITEMS FROM INDIA AND MIDDLE EAST MARKET

According to Viforest, related to wooden furniture products, especially indoor and outdoor wooden products, with a sharp decline in export sales, there are still some products in the HS 44 group – mainly agricultural processed wood, semi-processed wood and raw wood continued to register in some markets positive growth.

While exports of hardwood-made plywood, mainly to the US, fell sharply, exports of plywood products used in construction (film faced plywood) to the US and EU increased.

For fiberboard products, the export turnover to the Indian market was US$21.19 million, triple the same period in 2022 (US$7.6 million). Fiberboard currently accounts for 47% of the total export value of wood and wood products to the Indian market.

Plywood export reached US$69.4 million in the first four months of the year, up 9% compared to the same period in 2022. The main markets for importing this product are China (US$57.2 million dollars) and Cambodia ($3.4 million). both increased by 1% and 20%, respectively, over the same period in 2022.

In addition, the export of plywood to the Indian market also increased sharply from US$284.5 thousand in the first four months of 2022 to US$3.1 million in the first four months of 2023.

Although the export price of wood chips fell sharply compared to the end of 2022, the export of wood chips reached over 4.1 million tons worth US$704.4 million in four months, up 3% over the same corresponds to the period in 2022. China and Japan are still the top two markets for wood chips exported from Vietnam, with exports to China accounting for over 70%.

The export of tablets reached 1.2 million tons in the first four months of the year, with sales of $213.04 million, down 22% in volume and 10% in value compared to the same period in 2022. In particular, the export price for tablets has fallen sharply.

However, according to the Vietnam Wood Pellet Association, in June and July, demand for pellets in the Korean market is expected to increase again with a consumption content of 100,000 tons/month, while in the Japanese market, Vietnamese companies have long-term contracts with a term of signed two to three years ago to serve this market with tablets. It shows that the two most important import markets for Vietnamese pellets, South Korea and Japan, which account for 98% of the total volume, are showing good signals.

TAX REIMBURSEMENT PROBLEM OVER 6000 BILLION VND

Regarding the VAT refund issue, Viforest said that it is a major bottleneck that needs to be addressed soon so that many timber companies can survive and wait for the opportunity to recover.

According to preliminary statistics from Viforest, as of June 8, the amount of VAT unrecovered from wood processing and exporting companies is VND 6.1 trillion.

Here, the chip export companies of the Wood Chips Association amount to about over 4 billion VND (especially for 11 large chip export companies in Quang Ninh Province, the amount of tax not refunded by the end of May 2023 is 1,105 billion dong). ). Plywood Association member companies have yet to receive a tax refund of over VND500 billion; The rest of about 1.6 trillion dong belongs to the companies that process and export pellets and other wood products.

A representative of Lam Thanh Hung Co.,Ltd. said the company encountered many difficulties in VAT refund due to the long tax refund time. According to the regulations, the deadline for the inspection dossier before the tax refund is 40 days. The company’s tax refund dossier has been extended more than six months without any refund or non-refundable decision.

The representative of Ty Long Co.,Ltd. complained: “Verification of people is very difficult for companies. The company applied for a tax refund two years ago, but it has not yet been returned as the file was forwarded to the police department for investigation. Currently, this tax refund file is valid for two years and has not been verified. Each day, two police officers inspect four households planting forests, while businesses in many locations are buying from many different households and businesses, potentially thousands of forest owners. If they leave, full proof may take five years.”

A representative of Ha Long 12/11 Co., Ltd stressed, “It is not possible to verify the origin of forest planters because there is a situation where people who have a book have no forest, and those who have one Plant forest.” Acacia wood is also grown on the banks of rivers, ponds, etc. As a result, many people who grow and sell timber cannot obtain a red book to prove that the forest area planted belongs to them.”

PROPOSED GUIDELINES FOR THE TERMINATION OF “EXPOS” TAX REFUNDS

Given the controversy surrounding VAT refunds last year, Viforest said the General Department of Taxation should reconsider the request for tax traceability on forest farmers. Businesses that break the law should be investigated, prosecuted, and dealt with in accordance with the law. For companies that are in good business and have paid taxes, tax refunds take precedence to withdraw capital for company recovery.

Viforest and timber companies urgently request: The Ministry of Finance and the General Ministry of Taxes to review the problems in the current regulatory documents to eliminate difficulties for companies to ensure the flow of finance for companies to sign contracts. New contracts to avoid the case that many companies have orders but no capital for production activities.

The Ministry of Finance and the General Tax Department are asked to review and respond to tax refund dossiers and split them into three and six month periods to complete the dossiers for businesses. For exporting companies that have contracts with commercial companies, a VAT refund is possible because it is a legitimate business transaction that fully meets the requirements for the tax refund.

Request the General Department of Taxation to direct and guide provincial and district tax departments to continue to support and create favorable conditions in the coming period, including: Accelerating the review of value-added tax refund files is planned; Strengthen support for VAT refunds to ensure timely implementation in accordance with current legislation;

Currently, the regulations on management and traceability of forest products according to Circular No. 26/2022/TT-BNNPTNT are very complicated, unworkable, take a lot of time and incur high costs if a full verification is carried out. sufficient. Therefore, Viforest suggested that the tax authority should only focus on strict control of suppliers and companies that issue invoices through the electronic invoicing system.

Viforest proposes to exclude wood products from the high-risk item group for tax refunds, as planted forest wood is legal wood under the provisions of the Forest Act.

“If the VAT refund status is long-lasting and there is no solution, Viforest proposes removing the 10% tax on these items to prevent the VAT refund from being exploited for bank fraud.” State books. Or suggest that the state have mechanisms and policies to allow enterprises at intermediate stages of wood processing to pay taxes of 1.5% and enterprises to be accountable for their expenses…”, Mr. Do Xuan Lap , President-Proposed Owner of Viforest.