Ministry of Trade have stopped granting US export visas to Vietnamese clothing manufacturer in two categories due to mismatching customs procedures and fraudulent companies.

Deputy Minister of Trade, Luong Van Tu, said Vietnamese companies would not receive visas to export cotton or artificial sweaters if their bill of lading had been signed after September 28. The ministry said the visas had been stopped because US ports were ready to start stockpiling sweaters as quotas for these categories were close to completion. Vietnamese clothing companies are only allowed to export certain garments to the US if they have been allocated quotas by the Ministry of Trade.

Tu said US customs reported last week that 97.5 per cent of the quota in these categories had been filled. This is despite the ministry''s figures showing only 60-70 per cent of the quota in these categories has been filled.  Tu said the discrepancy had come about because some companies were applying for certificates of origin but did not have approval to export to the US. The ministry grants the certificates first and then checks up on the company later, paving the way for fake companies to export goods before being discovered.

Tu said the ministry thought about 30 per cent of the goods exported in these categories were from fake companies or the certificates had been forged. Another reason for the difference is that US customs did not start checking export visas until August 11. After the bilateral textile and apparel agreement was signed in May, the trade ministry controlled quota distribution by allotting export certificates from May 5 to June 30 and export visas from early July.