MOF’s price registration scheme criticized as “unfair”

Dairy product distributors have complained that the price registration scheme is unfair. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has given big distributors a free hand, while it tightens control over small enterprises.

One month ago, MOF issued a regulation requiring dairy producers to register their sale prices in an effort to better control the prices in the dairy market. The ministry has also released the list of 150 enterprises which have to register their sale prices with management agencies in the first phase, including seven dairy distributors.

However, a lot of dairy distributors have voiced their dissatisfaction about the list of the seven dairy producers, saying that many big distributors, with significant market shares, are still beyond the reach of management agencies, while smaller enterprises have to bear strict control .

The six enterprises in HCM City required to register sale prices include Friesland Campina, Nestle Vietnam, 3A Pharmacy, Mead Johnson Nutritions, Tien Tien Distribution, and Meiji Vietnam.

One company, Seryung, has its head office in Hanoi .

A senior executive of a foreign invested enterprise said the seven companies which are forced to register the sale prices as of October 1 are not the companies which hold the biggest market shares.

“You can see that big producers such as Vinamilk, Nutifood, Dumex, Milex, which launch big volumes of products into the market, are not included in the list,” he said.

A representative from another enterprise has expressed dissatisfaction about the list . “Before the new regulation took effect, we received the draft list of the enterprises forced to register prices. We checked it and did not see our name . However, we are included in the final list,” he complained.

He went on to say that he understands the purpose of the regulation on requiring sale price registration. However, an unfair mechanism will put many enterprises at a disadvantaged position. “The problem is not that we will have to pay additional expenses on sale registration, or that this will cause us any inconvenience. The problem is the unfairness,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Director of the Price Control Department under the Ministry of Finance Nguyen Tien Thoa has denied about the regulation’s unfairness. He said that MOF drew up the list of enterprises after considering numerous factors, including the business scale, market share, product range and consumption level.

“We used concrete criteria to define the enterprises which must register prices. Therefore, any unfair treatment is out of question,” he said.

Thoa said that the sale registration can be carried out through different channels. Enterprises can register directly with MOF or through local finance departments. The seven enterprises in the announced list have to register directly with MOF.

Thoa went on to say that the list is not permanent and it will be amended if necessary.

The list of 150 enterprises which have to register sale prices in the first phase include 8 cement producers, 18 steel enterprises, 5 LPG companies, one coal producer, 11 fertiliser enterprises, 36 pesticide enterprises, 10 animal medicine companies, 10 salt producers, 7 milk powder formula distributors, 8 sugar refineries, 2 rice enterprises, 2 paper companies, 10 animal feed enterprises, and one railway passenger transport company.- VnExpress

Tags: Vietnam Dairy sector, Vietnam formula prices