Market News & Headlines >> Vietnam Cuts Grain Import Duties

Vietnam on Tuesday said it would eliminate a 3% import duty on wheat and would cut its import duty on corn to 2% from 5% effective Dec. 30. The move came after the government back in July said it planned to end the wheat import tariff and cut the corn import tariff to 3% to support domestic animal feed producers.

The reductions of the tax are to support domestic feed producers and importers, as “Vietnam heavily relies on imported [feed] materials,” a Vietnam-based trader told Agricensus. The country’s feed sector has been affected negatively by both the Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever.

Local participants are expecting a bigger wheat origin variety, with Canadian, U.S. and South American wheat becoming more competitive in price since at the moment only Australian and Russian origin wheat can be imported tax-free. Vietnam imported more than 500,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat in 2020/21 but has so far only bought 59,900 metric tons for 2021/22 delivery.

Vietnam imported 454,600 metric tons of U.S. corn in 2020/21, but has yet to purchase any in 2021/22.