Coffee exporters complain about management activities                                   20 of the largest coffee exporters have made complaints that their operations have been threatened by slow VAT refunds.   The prices of arabica and robusta beans are at the lowest in the past three years At the conference about solutions for coffee exporting during 2013 to 2014 held in HCM City on September 24, the exporters said they might have to halt the export activities. Nguyen Nam Hai, deputy chairman of Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), said the coffee export industry was met with various difficulties last year. The output number was reduced by 23.7% to 1.4 million tonnes and the revenue downed by 22.8% to USD2.8 billion. Meanwhile, decreased demands and many diseases are still huge problems for the industry. As a result, many companies were forced to shut down in the last two years, pushing the number of bad debt in coffee industry to VND8 trillion (USD384 million). "We are also struggling with limited capital and expertise compared to other FDI companies. We have too many bad factors." Luong Van Tu, Vicofa chairman said. However, the most concerned problem are slow VAT refund work from government. Normally, enterprises are imposed 5% of VAT when they buy coffee beans from other firms, and the exporters will be refunded those 5%. But according to coffee exporters, they have not been able to get the money back for months after submitting their documents. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai, general director of Packsimex Company in HCM City said revenue from coffee export accounted for one third of company's revenue, which is USD45 million a year, "If we aren't refunded then we'll have to stop exporting activities and cut staff in next week. VND12 million haven't been refunded and we have big trouble with circulating the capital." Previously, the firms can get the money back right after they submit their documents. The agencies will verify the documents after that. However, this process was changed since July 1, 2013, when the Ministry of Finance asked the agencies to verify the documents thoroughly before returning the money. The exporters said they buy coffee beans from third parties who may buy coffee beans from other sellers so it'll take forever before the agencies of taxation can track down the original sellers, and the exporters may not get their refund. "The exporters have the invoices so they should be refunded." Nam said. Source: sgtt, dtinews.vn