VietNamNet Bridge – The license to
exploit titanium has been described as the “screen” for illegal titanium
exports, while the loosened management is the “passport” for titanium to cross
the border gates.

An official
of the Binh Dinh provincial Department for Natural Resources and the
Environment, said that every year, 25,000 tons of raw titanium is exported
illegally, which means that the state budget fails to collect three million
dollars in export tax.

The path of illegal raw titanium
exports

While the
Government prohibits to export raw minerals, government agencies in Binh Dinh
province, one of the localities which have the highest titanium exploitation
output in the country, have admitted that the majority of raw titanium
exploited in the province have been illegally exported to foreign countries,
mostly to China.

Nguyen Kim
Phuong, Director of the Binh Dinh provincial Industry and Trade Department,
said the illegal raw titanium export has been going in a large scale, while
local authorities cannot control the situation.

According
to Phuong, it is simple to illegally export raw titanium. The enterprises which
have licenses to exploit titanium join forces with many “bogus companies” in
other provinces–mostly in the north, in order to bring raw titanium out of
Binh Dinh province. After legalizing the procedures on trade, domestic
transportation, the ships carrying raw titanium will easily cross the border to
China.

Some months
ago, when verifying the raw titanium trade of an enterprise, agencies
discovered that the director of the enterprise was a woman, who earned her
living as a cigarette seller. The woman said that an enterprise hired her to
act as a director who signs the contracts on selling raw titanium.

A source
said that most of the titanium exploited illegally now in Binh Dinh province
can also be legalized with the “red invoices” of the enterprises which have the
function of trading titanium. After that, titanium is collected and carried to
the ports in Quy Nhon, from which titanium will be carried to China. Titanium
dealers join forces with titanium exploitation companies, or purchase the
invoices from the enterprises to turn illegal titanium into legal titanium to
be able to safely leave the port.

A director
of a shipping firm has revealed that in the last two months, his company got
nearly ten contracts on carrying titanium.

The fat
profits, plus the simple procedures both have prompted many enterprises, which
previously traded sliced cassava to shift to trade coal.

Loosened management behind the easy
illegal export

Nguyen Kim
Phuong admitted that too many problems have existed in the management over the
exploitation and trade of titanium, and that the slack management is the key
behind the increasing titanium smuggling.

According
to Ho Lien Nam from Quy Nhon
Port, under the current
regulations, raw titanium is the product for domestic trade only, therefore,
there are only two agencies which take management over the trade – ports and
port authorities.

At the
port, goods owners just need to show the contracts on trading titanium and the
contracts on domestic transportation in order to carry goods to the ships.
After that, only goods owners know where the ships go to.

In order to
prevent raw mineral export, the government has released many regulations on the
issue. As for titanium, the Binh Dinh’s authorities have also set up concrete
regulations to control the goods going through ports. Ships carrying titanium
must show five kinds of documents to be able to leave ports.

However, Nam said: “The
ports do not have the power to force goods owners to present all kinds of the
documents, even though when the police requests”.

Meanwhile,
Nguyen Trung Thanh, Deputy Director of the Binh Dinh Department for Natural
Resources and the Environment, admitted that the department only has the
figures about the annual output reported by enterprises. However, the actual
exploited volume and the reported volume prove to be too different.

Source: SGTT