Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministryof Industry and Trade (MoIT) is working with Nepalese authorities to bring home58 containers of peppercorn stuck in the country after it recen♏tly bannedimports of the commodity.

According to the Vietnam Pepper Association(VPA), the 58 containers from 13 Vietnamese businesses are worth some 3 millionUSD and have been stuck in Nepal for about two months. Peppercorn is one of five items the Nepalese Governmentrecently imposed import ban on. Though these batches had been shipped to Nepal priorto the ban taking effect, they have still not been handled. Shortly after receiving a notification from theVPA, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh sent a letter to the NepaleseMinister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to request support for theVietnamese businesses. Vietnamese authorities have been holding onlinesessions with the Nepalese side to identify solutions, including retrieving thecontainers. The Nepalese minister promised to assist theVietnamese businesses. Nepal’s import ban isn’t applicable to batcheswith letters of credit opened before March 29. To re-export goods from the country,it is important that Nepalese importers must submit the necessary applications. Most of the contracts signed by the 13Vietnamese companies, however, do not have letters of credit, and over the lasttwo months or more, Nepalese importers reportedly haven’t taken any necessary measuresto help Vietnamese companies conduct re-export procedures. The MoIT has been working with Vietnam’s tradeoffice in India, which is also in charge of Nepal, and the VPA to continuepersuading importers to coordinate with their Vietnamese partners to send thepeppercorn home. In early July, some Nepalese importers agreed tosign re-export applications and provide related documents. Giventhis case, the MoIT recommended enterprises take measures to prevent risks whentrading with South Asian markets like India and Nepal, including applyinginternational trade practices like opening letters of credit./.