Vietnam lowers import duties for diesel fuel, kerosene

Vietnam reduced import duties on diesel fuel and kerosene by five percentage points in late April, following the issuance of by the Ministry of Finance of Circular No. 73/2009/TT-BTC. The circular set the tariff on diesel fuel at 20% and kerosene at 35%. Import duty on petrol was left unchanged at 20%. The move was made to support domestic petroleum distributors during a period of rising prices in the world market, the ministry said. With retail prices capped, distributors were claiming losses of 1,000 dong (US$0.06) per liter of petrol, but the ministry refused to raise prices at the pump. The ministry has raised retail prices twice in April. (April 27, 2009)